2013-10-06 - Does This Mean We're Monster Hunters Now? Let's Do Our Best!

Does This Mean We're Monster Hunters Now? Let's Do Our Best!
Summary: In Episode Four of Perfume Splash! the mysterious Unknown Enemy Appears! Later, Perfume Warriors also fight a Star Lion while others take down a yogurt monster... (See also the second Unknown Enemy log for more Perfume Splash!)
Who: Sakura Akagi, Madobe Kuroi, Erika Inagawa, Tokiko Amagawa, Yoshirou Kurotsuki, Lera Camry, Ren Aizawa, Minako Aino, Alyce Ducati, Nanoha Takamachi, (second log includes) Queen Beryl, Tomomi Shizuka, Suzu Hamasaki, Usagi Tsukino, Rei Fushigiyo, Makoto Kino, Rei Hino
Where: Tama Outer City - Infinity Institute / Yamanote High City - Shibuya Shopping Ward
OOC Date: 10/6/2013 - 10/7/2013

(Battle Fantasia 2 - Sunday, October 06, 2013)

It's an ordinary day at the Infinity Institute, as far as such a thing actually exists. Infinity being what it is, it looms impressively into the sky, and the main sign of after-school activity visible from the outside are the various athletics teams going out on their long training jogs, the Strolling Club going for their after-school walk around the district, and the Going Home Club, or at least what of it doesn't go home straight into the tower's dorm levels, and what other clubs might happen to have off-site business today.

As the Beat Poetry Research Society gathers around a shady tree near the corner of the campus, something else also gathers. Or, rather, arrives - shooting down from the sky, arcing across the horizon in a blur of silver, and then CRASHING into the courtyard, kicking up dust and debris.

As the dust clears, what lies in the courtyard appears to be a wobbling, roiling mass of silver goo, formed tightly into a tremendous ball. It sits there unimpressively for a few moments, and then - low, rumbling, a voice that rattles the bones, it growls: "I SENSE....POWER..."

Tokiko Amagawa is a proud member of the Infinity Institute's Track and Field Club: BE THE BEST FOREVER, as it says on the sigil on her athletic uniform. Sometimes her schedule conflicts, but today, she's running track practice with the rest of the track club, and making good time: she's just getting warmed up out there, but she's well ahead of some of the other girls, out with the prodigies in the front of the pack.

The ring on her finger tingles faintly, shortly before a big gooey ball of silver goops across the sky and into the courtyard at the center of the wide shared track. And Tokiko... keeps running, failing to follow the track curve and going straight for a big memorial statue of Mudo, the loyal dog who stayed around the Infinity Institute construction site all its years. It's nice and big enough to transform behind, for instance. "What the heck is that thing," she murmurs to herself, shortly before stock footage plays of her forming the white military uniform and golden aiguilettes of the Soldier Angel.

COMBAT: Tokiko Amagawa transforms into Soldier Angel!

Sakura and her friends are visiting from Juuban to watch Tokiko at her track practice. It's almost over, though, so they're planning to take off and do something fun...

When there's the sudden crash of the unknown enemy.

Sakura stands up in the bleachers. She looks over at the field, and then side to side at her friends. "I... did you sense something strange? We should, uh..."

She's fingering a little pocket on her belt, but still new at this 'leading a team of magical girls thing.'

She looks at Madobe for a moment for confirmation, but it looks like Tokiko is already on the case, so she thinks she should too. She drops down behind the bleachers for a quick transformation, pulling out her perfume.

"Henshin! Cherry Blossom Splash!"

In a swirl of flowers and light, she transforms!

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi transforms into Japanese Cherry Blossom!

Drama and Survival Club are both not meeting today, so Yoshirou Kurotsuki is, instead, hanging out near the main entrance, waiting for the Track Club to finish. He is reading. (Today, it's Guys And Dolls.) When something slams into the ground, he looks up, startled. "What the-?" He looks around.

"/Dammit/. I was a t a good part." He should probably run and hide. He looks down ath is hand, at the black pearl ring...no. No, that would raise far too many questions. Still, he's not completely helpless, right? He's been to the 13th Floor. He has /ideas/.

Admittedly, most of those ideas revolve around using magic for stage special effects, since without the power of the black ring his magic just isn't really up to snuff, but still. Yoshirou goes to find a nice tree to hide in while he thinks.

Erika Inagawa is still getting used to having found new contacts of a social nature. She did not particularly object; it isn't like she was putting all her work into studying. She'd been sitting in the stands, watching the running with some curiosity, and then her head tilts towards the giant silver glob of arriving stuff.

"That wasn't what we were here to say, is it, Kuroi?" she asks rhetorically, before ducking down and rolling into the empty space behind the bleachers, reaching into her own pocket to pull out her vial. A few generous spritzes later, and:

"Forever Sunshine Splash!" The light gets, if anything, even more flowery.

Forever Sunshine hoists herself up from BEHIND the bleachers, balancing on one hand purely for the pleasure of it before hoisting herself to her feet. Shading her eyes, she reports downwards, "It said something about power, Cherry Blossom! Is that normal??"

The Infinity Institute!

Madobe still feels bad for missing the first survival club meeting and has dropped by to provide support. it's time for some fun soon when...

Crash! An unknown enemy! a re-unknown enemy!

"We better check it out." Sweet Pea says, providing dialogue anybody else could provide. She gives a firm nod to sakura and ducks behind her so she can hide while she transforms, behind the bleachers as well.

"Henshin! Sweet Pea! Splash!"

In a swirl of (sweet pea) flowers and light, she transforms! it's ...really pretty similar.

She rushes over towards the mighty Soldier Angel once she's done, drawing both pistols.

Lera Camry is at school, of course, and walking between classes. She isn't in the poetry society, though she considered it. However, she does not have that creative spirit that powers poetry. Part of her mission -- to make friends among the Earthlings -- made her consider it regardless. She stops, though, as she sees the blur of silver. Her head tracks it down slowly, and then her eyes widen sharply. She raises an arm to cover her face from the dust.

"Oh, no..." she says. Her other hand tightens around a laser pointer/pen combination.

IT APPEARS THE UNCULTURED BRUTES HAVE A PROBLEM.>

The male, computerized voice crackles, as she looks around the tree. Lera glances down at the pen, then up at the ball of silvery goop. "It is our problem too, Soaring Sky. Remember, we are also normal Earth--"

I AM NOT NORMAL EARTH TECHNOLOGY. THAT IS INSULTING. I AM INSULTED.>

"Let's just get ready!"

She sees the others rushing forward, then she leaps around the tree -- and points a finger at the silvery orb. "Soaring fire, burning spirit!" she yells. "Soaring Sky, SET UP!"

A flash of crimson light shoots up around her; the plum colored jacket vanishes, quickly replaced by a crimson and black jacket with a high neck but short waist, and metal plates on the shoulders. She punches a fingerless gloved hand forward, clutching the pen, which grows out into a long black staff with a red-bronze segment in the middle. It splits in half, one half flipping into the air, then comes down. She catches it in the other hand and points it at the thing.

A blade of fiery energy shoots out from both halves, forming energy swords. Lera grins and winks.

Ren hasn't gone home quite yet. Slowly making her way through the front lobby area of the school the tenth grader is looking a bit disappointed. Gasp! Why is this?! "I wonder where Amagawa-san is?" Ahh. Yes. She's spent most of the afterschool hours trying to track down Tokiko! ...With no success. Aww. Though to be fair it's her own fault for not getting the girl's contact information. So forgetful! And to think she was all ready to make a serious pledge to join the Survival Club. Now she's had enough time to second-guess her earlier confidence. Did she really have what it takes to be a member? That mock battle she participated in was probably just a fluke. There was no way she was that goo-

<YOUR MAJESTY! SOMETHING APPROACHES!> Souverain Heraut cuts off Ren's little mental pity party just as she reaches the front doors of the school. "W-What?!" And then she feels /it/.... right before /it/ makes impact with the courtyard. Well, so much for quietly making her way home! Narrowing her eyes Ren dashes forward through the doors, stopping behind one of the nearby pillars.

"A royal duty to defend against tyranny... To strike down chaos where it lurks... To become a shining beacon that beats back the darkness... SOUVERAIN HERAUT, SORTIE!"

The silver ring that is the standby form of her device erupts into a golden glow. Ren sweeps her leg out and takes on an elegant pose as an array of jewels wink into existence and encircle her. Clothes melting away in several white flashes, her body is then pelted by the gems, which stretch and twist to form her barrier jacket. Finally, the ring rolls itself out and morphs into her scepter. Grabbing it, her transformation is complete!

"Alright Souverain Heraut. Let's do our best!"

Though Alyce Ducati has been operating in Tama for awhile, she has not yet had cause to go to the local school. On top of that, she's been recovering from being on the wrong end of the unknown blonde girl with sad eyes. The Sergeant is, however, a resourceful young woman-- and in the midst of one of her "regular patrols," searching for the elusive Jewel Seeds, she recieves a simple warning issued from her Intelligent Device.

<ANOMALY DETECTED.>

It leads the Mid-childian woman to look off to the near distance-- and toward Infinity Institute. Running like hell toward the streak falling through the sky, she issues a single command to the pendant hanging around her neck.

"Silver Wind... set up!"

The gemstone set in the ornate pendant flares. <STERLING COAT.>

Alyce may arrive a few minutes late, but by god she arrives mid-change. A black turtleneck, fine blue jacket, black leather shorts and stockings, tall boots, gloves... and then with a flare and flap of silvery-white fabric, the sleeveless coat.

Staff in hand, she stops a short distance through the courtyard without getting too close.

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati transforms into Barrier Jacket - Sterling Coat!

Believe it or not, Nanoha Takamachi is not on campus for classes or clubs right this moment. The third grader had been busy running errands most of the day, and as it turns out one of them brought her back to her classroom at Infinity to pick something up. And that's the reason why the distracted-seeming girl was on her way out and heading on home.

Now the big issue in simply just heading back to probably spend her sunday helping out at Midori-ya would be the sudden chime from the gleaming red bauble on her necklace.

<DISTURBANCE DETECTED. HIGH THREAT LEVEL POSSIBILITY.> Raising Heart informs her wielder with a mental nudge, leaving Nanoha looking torn for a moment. It doesn't exactly seem like something she can just... Leave be. Not when a big blobby silver-thing comes slamming down into the school courtyard. "... Raising Heart?"

I DO NOT SUGGEST ENGAGING ALONE. YOU ARE STILL LEARNING.>

"Yeah..."

It is true. But it's an issue rectified when the third grader spots other first responders.

Soldier Angel, Sweet Pea, and Ren being the most recognizeable to her. And Nanoha quickly ducks out of sight to make her decision.

"We can still help, though. Raising Heart?"

<ALRIGHT.> The Device replies. <BARRIER JACKET SET UP.>

A flash of pink light, and Nanoha's clothes are replaced with the armored white, blue, and gold colors of her Barrier Jacket, Raising Heart piecing together in a series of mechanical hums and lathcing clanks, before the staff settles into her left hand. And in a quick leap, powered by the pink wings of light that appear at her ankles, she touches down by Tokiko. "To-- ah, Soldier Angel, what's going on?"

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi transforms into Barrier Jacket!

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa transforms into Imperial Chancellor Ren!

Minako Aino is hanging around in Infinity during the after school hours, 'gifting' her presence and time to different clubs much to the delight of many (and annoyance of a few). Different activities stop for a moment as student's rush to windows after the sound of a loud crashing down below in the courtyard, but only the people on the correct side of the building who can recognize the impact point actually stop to talk about it.

Minako, on the other hand, takes the time to slip out of class to an outside stairwell, giving herself the privacy to peer down and spy without being interrupted. Specifically, she's trying to avoid a rather loud argument concerning whether meteorites or cars backfiring are the more likely culprit for the sound.

She's just spying from about a dozen floors up, quite suspicious of the shiny ball in the ground!

The silver sphere looms, roiling visibly inside its own skin - and slowly, bubbling in the surface, there emerge faces. It's difficult to really make them out - monstrous, iconic faces forged out of muck for a moment, then molding into another. Occasionally, an alien face appears, mouthless, eyes like slits, glaring outward. "Magical girls...this feeling is...the power of...MAGIC..."

It surges forward, lurching out of the crater it formed. It pools, like a mercury goop.

Bystanders sort of gawk, because what the actual hell. "You will give me your POWER!" it rasps, loudly, and then goo EXPLODES outward - the surface roiling and then crashing outward in a sea of lashing tendrils, crashing into the pavement, kicking up dust, and homing in on any magical girl it can find!

As it does not have eyes to be blinded, that is all of them.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has fully healed itself. It is now ready to take on 9 opponents!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has used Horrible Monster Wave on Minako Aino. Nanoha Takamachi. Alyce Ducati. Ren Aizawa. Lera Camry. Madobe Kuroi. Erika Inagawa. Sakura Akagi, Tokiko Amagawa. COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has finished attacking. COMBAT: Tokiko Amagawa fails to dodge Love Guitar Rod's Horrible Monster Wave, taking 12 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Lera Camry perfectly dodges Love Guitar Rod's Horrible Monster Wave, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Lera Camry's Fade ability activates! Lera Camry's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Erika Inagawa fails to dodge Love Guitar Rod's Horrible Monster Wave, taking 10 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa narrowly dodges Love Guitar Rod's Horrible Monster Wave, taking 5 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati narrowly dodges Love Guitar Rod's Horrible Monster Wave, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Alyce Ducati's Fade ability activates! Alyce Ducati's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi narrowly counters Love Guitar Rod's Horrible Monster Wave, taking 8 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi's counterattack, Bonk Bonk Bonk, partially gets through, doing 2 Fatigue damage to Love Guitar Rod!

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi narrowly braces Love Guitar Rod's Horrible Monster Wave, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Nanoha Takamachi's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has used Horrible Monster Wave on Sakura Akagi.

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi perfectly dodges Love Guitar Rod's Horrible Monster Wave, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has finished attacking.

<WE HAVE INCOMING.>

"I see it, Soaring Sky! It will take more than this--" Lera sees the lashing tendrils come soaring in. She moves forward, into them at first, and her blade chops out with her left hand. The energy sword cuts along one of the goo's tentacles, before she leaps up off it, and twists around. She dives expertly through the tendrils, before hitting the ground and landing.

She runs along the ground, and lunges in, closer to the goop. "Leave this peaceful school alone! As a normal Earth soldier of justice, I--"

She leaps, and then stabs the right sword out, slashing into the tendrils as she gets closer to it. Her lips set into a determined look. "--insist!"

COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Slash Rusher on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Minako Aino transforms into Sailor V!

"That," Soldier Angel says to Nanoha, leaning from around the statue of Mudo, "is an excellent question. Sweet Pea!" she calls from across the field. "Can you get a bead on this thing? What is it?" She can do that, right? Didn't she do that to the monster at the water park?

After that conferring, Soldier Angel leaps to the top of the statue, pointing a finger at the mass of silver goo. "Entering the situation zone, Starry Soldier Angel reporting! You're in violation of... ewww, are those faces?!" The moment of distraction is enough to make the horrible monster wave an issue for her. She leaps into the air, soon enough to make sure the wave doesn't crash over the statue of Mudo, but she's caught in the tendrils, and let me tell you, it does not feel spring-fresh. Soldier Angel is knocked to the dirt, scuffed and bruised. "Ugh... gross." Still lying on the ground, she clutches her fist around a forming shape and tosses a white and golden canister at the creature, which erupts into a crack of starlight. "Clear the blast zone! Starry Flashbang!"

COMBAT: Tokiko Amagawa has used Starry Flashbang on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Tokiko Amagawa has finished attacking.

"That guy from the Star Wars movie with the two lightsabers showed up, Cherry Blossom! Except it's a girl!" Forever Sunshine updates, even as she watches Sweet Pea toodle off towards the side.

Then more of them show up. "It's OK!! Jedi just showed up!!"

As the creature declares it is hungry for power, Forever Sunshine tsks loudly. She puts her hands on her hips and says, "If you're going to ask for something, use please and thGUHH!!" The GUHH part is of course because she was just slapped upside the head by a sparkling tendril, sending her toppling off the back of the bleachers. She bounces, once, and lands in a crouch afterwards, scuffed and incredulous.

"I... You can... Of course you can," she mutters to herself, before dusting off her spangled slacks and running back around the bleacher. As someone slashes towards the silvery thing, she has to close the distance towards it.

In the mean time, therefore: Be a jerk. "Hey!! Blob thing!! I'll show you ultimate power, beyond your understanding. But you have to hold still!! Sprout some legs or something, too!"

At every step, her posture is shockingly dynamic.

COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has used Forever Perfect Poise on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has finished attacking.

Sheome kind of horrible goo is coming out of that crater! Japanese Cherry Blossom is inbound, but she's still a bit out of its immediate range, and when a tentacle of ooze smashes toward her, she takes a big leap back.

She looks around. "We'll need to form a plan of attack! Circle around and see if it has any weak spots!"

She looks at Sweet Pea and gives her good friend a nod and smile. "You can do it. Okay?"

As she's getting prepared, Forever Sunshine calls the monster out. "Sunshine, be careful! I'll have your back!"

Some kind of horrible goo is coming out of that crater! Japanese Cherry Blossom is inbound, but she's still a bit out of its immediate range, and when a tentacle of ooze smashes toward her, she takes a big leap back.

She looks around. "We'll need to form a plan of attack! Circle around and see if it has any weak spots!"

She looks at Sweet Pea and gives her good friend a nod and smile. "You can do it. Okay?"

As she's getting prepared, Forever Sunshine calls the monster out. "Sunshine, be careful! I'll have your back!"

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has used Battle Strategy on Madobe Kuroi.

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi accepts Sakura Akagi's Battle Strategy, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Madobe Kuroi is Cheered!

INCOMING.>

The young woman's weight shifts as the tendrils start swinging her way. Leaping to one side, the length of the goo slamming across her abdomen. Sent off-trajectory, the ground-bound mage tumbles across the courtyard with a heavy roll-- but not so heavy that it prevents her from getting up to her feet nigh-instantly.

Nanoha's here. The Sergeant gives the young trainee mage something of a telepathic nudge for communication purposes, a simple sort of 'I'm here' to keep her in the loop.

One foot shifts ahead, and her hands hold her staff vertical as she starts to channel her magic.

"Lockdown!"

<SILVER BIND.>

Thick silvery bands of energy appear-- not at the tentacles, but at where the core of the creature seems to be-- and it attempts to suddenly clamp down on the many-faced goo to bind it in place!

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati has used Silver Bind on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati has finished attacking.

"Oh! It's Nanoha!" Sweet Pea says. She is oblivious to Minako's presence at the moment. She's really confused by how this device is so chatty. Maybe it's a robot, like that talking ferret. Infinity really has such incredible tech. The monster...attacks! Sweet Pea swings up her pistol, partially deflecting the tentacle with her pistol, though it still scratches her along her side. She reaches up with her magical cellphone and snaps a picture of the silver ball before jumping back and taking a look!

Hmm!!

"Alright!" She says to her comrades, "This is what I've found!" She points to the monster. "That monster...it's stats and skills are all question marks...and for what it is... It's called an UNKNOWN ENEMY!"

She punches forward with a big thumbs up. "Does that remind you of anything??"

A small tumbleweed passes between herself and the monster.

Ren steps out from behind the pillar to see... other magical girls assembled around the impact point of the silver blob monster. Well, at least the response time is exceptional! She notices Soldier Angel and Nanoha as familiar faces. "Hey!" And she stats to run towards them, because obviously they need to form a plan!

Though the monster also takes this moment to attack! How nefarious! And those faces? Really freaky!

<EVASION!> Souverain Heraut cries, and in a burst of magic Ren launches into the air. Though not fast enough to avoid being hit by a few tendrils. "Ugh!"

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has used Go Hero Protaganist on Sakura Akagi.

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has finished attacking.

Yoshirou, up in his tree, watches over the scene. "Now, that's a crowd..." He considers. How can he help? His magic is no good for direct attack, and he'd die. That would be very bad indeed. He can't transform here without risk...but! But.

Yoshirou knows the value of morale and image. He doesn't yet know if the goo cares about image...give that a moment. But the girls certainly should. He takes a breath, focusing. A magic circle appears beneath the tree, though it's dim and hard to notice.

"You sulphurous and thought-executing fires, vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts, singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder, strike flat the thick rotundity o' the world!"

Some mages like dog Latin. Some mages like ancient Greek. Yoshirou, when he can manage it, can do Latin - but he /prefers/ soliloquies. As he speaks, the magic flows out to Lera, whose fiery energy is easiest for Yoshirou to figure out how to enhance. Now, while each blow and each blast is no more powerful than before, the pyrotechnics are /significantly/ more spectacular.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has used King Lear on Lera Camry.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Lera Camry accepts Yoshirou Kurotsuki's King Lear, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Lera Camry is Cheered!

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi accepts Madobe Kuroi's Go Hero Protaganist, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod perfectly dodges Erika Inagawa's Forever Perfect Poise, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod accepts Alyce Ducati's Silver Bind, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stun and Trap applied to Love Guitar Rod!

One minute she's going home, the next minute the school is under attack, and now there are Magical Girls /everywhere/. This is increasingly becoming a normal and routine occurrance.

Silver blobs on school grounds, however, are NOT routine.

"Hi!" Nanoha fires off a quick greeting towards Madobe. It's the best she can do while that thing... Hungers. And for a moment, the tiny redhead's attention is locked on the the sight of those faces. Monstrous and terrible, demanding power. And there are /bystanders/ all around. Inwardly, the young mage finds herself wishing Yuuno were around. The completely not-animatronic ferret would at least be able to render bystanders a non-issue with a barrier.

But she has little time to ruefully mourn her lack of mustelid companions.

INCOMING! LOOK OUT!> Raising Heart warns, and the girl's left hand is up in a flash, an almost entirely snap reflex as she spreads her fingers, a wall of pink light appearing in front of her as the wave of silver muck goes flying her way.

<PROTECTION.> Her Device pings as the child grits her teeth, the magical shield serving to buffet the impact to the best of her ability, gauntlet rattling from the strain and glove fraying.

Alyce is here. The telepathic ping is met with a quick reply of acknowledgement, and another one is briefly sent to Ren as well.

. o (Alyce, Ren, can either of you set up a Barrier?)

May as well ask the question. With a flutter, the little pink wings on her booths bring the little mage skyward, just a few feet off the ground to facilitate ease of movement as she gives her Device a wave, several small orbs of pink light manifesting in a slow orbiting hover around her.

"Lyrical, magical..."

<DIVINE SHOOTER!>

"Shooooot!"

A snap gesture of her Device's head towards the blobby mass sends the four orbs launching on a vaguely guided course towards it.

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has used Divine Shooter on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has finished attacking.

Somewhere between the loud crash and the genesis of dozens of tendrils snaking out towards various different individuals surrounding the crater, Minako realizes that something is not just unusual in the courtyard but also very very wrong. As she climbs onto the railing, flipping her hair back over her shoulders neatly, she decides it's time to make her entrance while simultaneously realizing she's just a little higher up than she remembers being.

With a quick glance behind her to make sure nobody is nearby, she jumps - somewhere between the railing and the ground, Minako is gone and Sailor V has replaced her!

She lands, bracing herself on a knee and her hands as she practically slams into the ground in a crouching position, a little bit of dirt and dust puffing up. The moment of her impact is specifically timed with an explosion of blinding golden light all around her. She remains as she is, motionless, wordless, as if undaunted or not even noticing the the monstrous thing near her.

Privately, she thinks, '...ow, ow, owww, owwww, my knees.'

COMBAT: Minako Aino has used Moonlight Shower on Minako Aino.

COMBAT: Minako Aino has finished attacking. COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod narrowly braces Nanoha Takamachi's Divine Shooter, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Love Guitar Rod's Block ability activates! Love Guitar Rod's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Sailor V accepts Sailor V's Moonlight Shower, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Empower and Withstand applied to Sailor V!

The creature doesn't have any particular eyes to be blinded with (see above), but Tokiko does her best with that flashbang. It seems to bother it, at least, inasmuch as a blob of malevolent ooze can be bothered.

Lera, for her part, makes a bombastic entrance in the form of slashing at those tendrils! Her energy blades cleave the silver goop easily - it comes apart immediately, falling to the ground in ugly mercurial splats that seep into the groun, too fast to be natural.

Its posture is almost impossible to read, but the main body seems to half-turn toward Erika, that alien face barely visible in its mass, considering, and...apparently deciding not to listen. Somewhere in the distance, there is the sound of a balloon deflating.

And then Alyce cuts in to try and restrain the beast. It...bizarrely, seems to work, wrapping the silver creature in silver light, just in time for Nanoha to blast it to bits with Divine Shooter! Good work, team, everyone go--

"Power...yessssss...!"

It appears to be growing /around/ the binding bands, and when the Divine Shooter blasts impact it, they worm their way into its silver flesh and erupt into pink light, and the creature reacts by growing in a grotesque fashion, chunks of ooze simply bursting outward.

And then it re-contracts, crushing the bindings inside of itself, shrinking downward into a more manageable form, smaller, smaller, and smaller yet--

A head emerges, and arms and hands - and legs! See, Forever Sunshine, it didn't ignore you at all. Lodged in the center of its body there appears, glimmering, a small rhomboid shape, glimmering with what appears to be red lettering...

And then it erupts into bright red-white light, too bright to be looked at directly.

When the light clears, what's there is...definitely not a silver blob, but instead a creature - huge for a person, of exaggerated proportions - composed of a strange mixture of petrified wood and roiling darkness, hunched half-forward under the weight of its own strength. It clenches one fist, and the wood creaks. It clenches the other and motes of anti-light fall, like negative stardust.

Red eyes peer out like slits between the knotted wooden mask of its face. "You will give me," it commands, raspy, "MORE POWER!!"

It surges, suddenly, long, loping strides forward, and SMASHES directly into Erika, shoulder checking her, snapping out with its arm to catch her neck while she's still flying, and then driving her face-first into the ground. It moves onward, a deadly rush to bull directly into Lera, limbs like horns searching out her belly. Then it whips around, snapping out its black hand, and a wave of darkness races away, a crescent shape of waste blasting into Japanese Cherry Blossom and Sweet Pea, and then raking it over toward Soldier Angel!

Then it reaches its tree hand over, finding one of the trees very carefully groomed and sculpted along the walk to Infinity Institute, and...fuses with it, wood growing from the hand and into the tree. And then it picks up the tree.

And then it leaps into the air to bludgeon Alyce and Nanoha with it, roaring.

When it crashes back down, it peers around with those slitted eyes - a silent challenge to those who keep their distance.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has used Giant Tree Beating on Nanoha Takamachi. Alyce Ducati. Ren Aizawa. Lera Camry. Madobe Kuroi. Erika Inagawa. Sakura Akagi. Tokiko Amagawa.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has used Give Me Your POWER on Sailor V.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Tokiko Amagawa narrowly braces Love Guitar Rod's Energy Redistribution, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Tokiko Amagawa's Block ability activates! Tokiko Amagawa's Parry ability activates! Stagger applied to Tokiko Amagawa! COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi fails to brace Love Guitar Rod's Energy Redistribution, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Stun applied to Madobe Kuroi!

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa fails to brace Love Guitar Rod's Give Me Your POWER, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Ren Aizawa is Quipped!

COMBAT: Erika Inagawa fails to counter Love Guitar Rod's Silverbodied Kickpunching, taking 31 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Erika Inagawa's counterattack, Freeman Family Secret Technique, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Love Guitar Rod!

[OOC] Erika Inagawa says, "Dammit sweet pea give me back my combat luck"

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati narrowly braces Love Guitar Rod's Giant Tree Beating, taking 21 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi narrowly braces Love Guitar Rod's Energy Redistribution, taking 19 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stagger and Stun applied to Sakura Akagi!

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi narrowly dodges Love Guitar Rod's Giant Tree Beating, taking 31 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Lera Camry narrowly counters Love Guitar Rod's Goo Charge, taking 5 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Lera Camry's counterattack, Sentinel Cross, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Love Guitar Rod!

COMBAT: Sailor V narrowly braces Love Guitar Rod's Give Me Your POWER, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sailor V is Quipped! Sailor V's Parry ability activates!

There is a flash of surprise when the pyrotechnic display surges around Lera. She turns her head, looking up at the tree; then, she smiles, nods, and points one of the two energy swords up at the boy. "Thank you!" she calls out. "I will not forget this assistance!"

She realizes that there are other Intelligent Device users here. Her eyes shoot from the silver bands forming to Alyce Ducati, then to Nanoha and Ren briefly, before she looks forward. The bust of light from Nanoha's spell makes her blink. So powerful! She frowns momentarily, as she considers this. This is the most magical girls that she has ever been around before. "Soaring Sky," she says, "do you know who any of them are?"

<NO, THESE ARE NOT DEVICES THAT I AM FAMILIAR WITH.>

She watches the monster transform and frowns; it somehow moves past the beam, and then it surges forward in a more humanoid form. She sees the limbs outstretched and brings up both blades, crossing them and catching the limbs. It pushes her backward, slamming her back across the ground, coughing up dirt in her wake.

<SENTINEL CROSS.

She breaks from it, watching it shoot past. "Hold on, everyone--it's doing something with the tree! Get clear!" She uncrosses the energy blades; a magic cicle shoots out underneath her, flashing red, and then Lera leaps high into the air, and brings her right blade around, stabbing it down.

<RAPID SKYFALL.>

She comes crashing down, stabbing with the right sword, before she lands on the ground, and slashes around with the left in a circular pattern. Then, she slashes straight upward with the right blade.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Rapid Skyfall on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.

"Forever Sunshine, look out!" Cherry Blossom doesn't miss a beat in calling out to her friends by their correct names, but, well, the shout doesn't do her too much good as Erika is assaulted by the powerful check.

Well... now Cherry Blossom is mad. She braces herself against the waste attack, holding out her hands, but it soaks her sleeves and makes a mess of her for a moment. She feels she's going to be a little weighed down by all this ooze. She looks sympathetic at Madobe as it seems she was similarly affected. But Cherry Blossom steels herself, taking a big breath. "I won't let you hurt all of my friends! So whatever kind of Unknown Enemy you are... if you want power...."

She lowers her hands to the ground, bowing her body partially. Pink light builds beneath her sleeves, in the area between her and the ground. She stands up again, and a tower of light, smelling like fresh blossoms, rises up between her hands and the ground. She moves her hands in a slow circle, gathering energy, and then, opening both hands finally out with palms open, throws her hands toward the enemy.

"CHERRY BLOSSOM-- PETAL SPIRAL!"

A wind full of pink petals surges toward the strange being. The petals are razor sharp on the edges, despite their softness, and spinning like throwing stars.

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has used Cherry Blossom Petal Spiral on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has finished attacking.

Floating in the air above, Ren has a good view of the action taking place below. Others were unlucky enough to get hit harder than she did, but no one seemed to be too gravely hurt yet. Phew!

And then comes the voice of Nanoha ringing out in her head, asking about the possibility of her or Alyce throwing up a barrier.

. o (Ah! I'm not versed in that kind of magic yet...) She replies, feeling a bit dejected.

Thankfully, Alyce binds it! And Nanoha blasts it! And... /wait/, what's this?! Ren watches in horror as it grows around the bindings. The pink attack its hit with does... something. The creature shrinks and reforms. "What is it doing?" Ren queries cautiously. Well, she gets her answer soon enough when is springs into action, laying some hurt on several magical girls in the vacinity. "N-no! Souverain Hearaut!" She cries out, holding the scepter up in the air. It's not going to get any power! It's just... It's just not!

<ENGAGEMENT FORM.> The device glitters, then twists into its rapier mode.

<HEROIC LANCER.> Ren is wrapped up into a ball of golden energy, the rapier thrust in front of her, down towards the creature. "LET'S GO!" And she launches off, streaking down towards the beast like a brilliant meteorite of magical might!

All of these people firing their passionate light into the creature. Forever Sunshine is faintly jealous. It passes, of course: after all, she reasons, they're just - To herself she frowns again. "How many people like us /are/ there...? Sheesh!!"

But the thing's coming towards her. Sinking into a crouch, Forever Sunshine prepares some sort of a shocking move, which does not come to pass as the silvery creature is several things at once.

1. Bigger than her

2. About as fast as her

3. Bigger than her

Grasped by the neck, Forever Sunshine feels her spine produce a relaxing, refreshing 'pop!' Then she hits the ground, rebounding again. She goes limp at the opportune moment, rising up in the air. She lands again, wobbling slightly, arms spread out for balance. She then sweeps herself around, swinging out one leg in a 150 degree arc, slapping the sole of her foot down and snapping her fingers, once.

"Just because you're bigger, stronger, and faster than me doesn't mean you'll win!" she says, heedless of the irony in this case. She takes a deep breath, exhales, and declares more sonorously, "Tangerine... STORM!"

Orange light crackles as she swings her other leg around and stomps the ground. It ripples through the ground, throwing up a smell like an orchard in full bloom as it aims to erupt in a windy storm around the creature's lower quarters. "Ha!" she declares, with premature triumph.

COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has used Tangerine Storm on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has finished attacking.

"Okay," Soldier Angel says, while she throws out her hands to either side, forming her twin white and gold handguns in a flash of light. "That's not supposed to happen. That's really not supposed to happen." She digs her heels into the ground and crosses her arms before her, pushed back by the force of the wave of darkness.

"Hi, Nanoha's friend-san," she says to the arriving Ren, but it seems she's distracted, trying to figure this one out. "Sweet Pea! We'll buy some time - priority one is to contain the monster and prevent casualties. Cherry Blossom's idea is good - I think it's a good time to try out plan alpha!" Plan alpha is a name she just came up with on the fly for it, but she's floated some ideas with Madobe-chan in the interim. She locks elbows with Sweet Pea in a show of determination. We Can Do It!

From there, she breaks, strafing around the monster clockwise, rapid-firing her handguns, and knocking new cartridges into them with her knees as they run out. Her ring of fire is calculated to lock the creature down and constrain its movement as much as it is to strike and damage it when it tries to move or defend itself. Each pull of the trigger fires a ray of golden starlight, but as the attack progresses and the circle closes, her fire acquires a pink nimbus around it.

"Sweet Angel Suppressive Fire!"

COMBAT: Tokiko Amagawa has started a combo targeting Love Guitar Rod!

Floating in the air above, Ren has a good view of the action taking place below. Others were unlucky enough to get hit harder than she did, but no one seemed to be too gravely hurt yet. Phew!

And then comes the voice of Nanoha ringing out in her head, asking about the possibility of her or Alyce throwing up a barrier.

. o (Ah! I'm not versed in that kind of magic yet...) She replies, feeling a bit dejected.

Thankfully, Alyce binds it! And Nanoha blasts it! And... /wait/, what's this?! Ren watches in horror as it grows around the bindings. The pink attack its hit with does... something. The creature shrinks and reforms. "What is it doing?" Ren queries cautiously. Well, she gets her answer soon enough when is springs into action, laying some hurt on several magical girls in the vacinity. "N-no! Souverain Hearaut!" She cries out, holding the scepter up in the air. It's not going to get any power! It's just... It's just not!

<REGAL CRASHER> The device glitters, then spawns forth several superheated gems that swirl about.

"LET'S GO! REGAL.... CRASHER!" The gems coalesce into one before they fire off as a huge beam of intense magical heat! Take that you jerk!

Woah, Madobe thinks, what's with that mask? "Woah...it's...wood now!..." Was that really a good idea, she wonders, now it could be like set on fire right? Maybe it'd just escape from the wood if it became a problem.

"To--I mean Soldier Angel--it seems tougher, but maybe it's defense weakened too! Like in video games! We just need to be careful the tree won't explode when it--"

The wave of EVIL ENERGY crashes into her, it sends her flying back across the field, she bounces a couple times, clouds of sweet pea perfume appearing below her to try and cushion her fall.

She rolls up to her feet--bruised, but not beaten!

It occurs to her now that she forgot to actually answer Erika's question about this being what they came to see and as she tries to think up an attack, she thinks--gosh, it'd be too awkward to actually answer now. She is so ashamed. But she is not too ashamed to not notice the Jedi pointed out.

"Thanks for the help!" She says. "May the force be with you!" She notices the barrier jacket. "Oh...it's not actually a jedi..."

She is so dissapointed that she almost gives up on the fight right there--but thankfully Sailor V is on the case! She jumps down and Sweet Pea's eyes widen--with joy! "It's Sailor V!! Oh my gosh this is the /second time/...! I'm the luckiest fan in the world~!"

But if she's going to be the luckiest fan, she better show Sailor V what she can do. She gives a firm nod to Soldier Angel. "We might not have power, but we've got tactics cribbed from one of your otaku magazines!"

With burning spirit, she shouts, "SWEET PEA SUPPRESSIVE FIRE!" firing pink bursts from her pistols, the pink blasts erupt into sweet smelling flowers upon impact!

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Regal Crasher on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has joined the combo started by Tokiko Amagawa!

COMBAT: COMBO! Tokiko Amagawa and Madobe Kuroi have used Angel Arms and Sweet Pea Strike on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Tokiko Amagawa has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has finished attacking.

The spell works, but it's ... growing around the bindings? Swallowing them, almost. Alyce's thoughts start to run a mile a minute, running down all the way her spell could have failed her. Her mind is filled with what-ifs, buts, and worries: 'But it couldn't do that unless it was actually-- but then the--'

.o( I won't be able to cast a barrier large enough to cover the school while--)

<ERROR,> the device croons helpfully. Then, it leaps to bludgeon Nanoha and catches Alyce on the way down.

<PROTECTION.>

The magic circle forms just in time; the weight of /a tree/ comes down on her. Her circle does not break, but it cannot cease the total inertia, either. With a cloud of dust and smoke, Alyce virtually bounces out from under the makeshift club before tumbling across the courtyard.

Sitting up, pushing herself onto her side before quickly getting back up to her feet, the Sergeant /does/ keep her distance. Her left hand lifts up over her head as her eyes close; calculations flood through her mind as she envisions the spell and channels the energy from within. Six silvery spheres form to flank her low on either side.

"Shoot him down."

<SILVER STAR.>

As Alyce swings her arm out wide to one side, the staff slides down her grip to nearly the end of it's length. With another flare of light, the spheres break and fly in jagged, high-speed ways, juking and altering trajectory before they come plunging straight down with a great deal of impacting force!

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati has used Silver Starfall on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati has finished attacking.

"Agh!"

Yoshirou watches as the giant tree demon thing goes...right for the tree he's in. "Shitshitshitshit-" He dives out of the tree as it grabs for it, landing in a heap. "/Ow/!" Good news: no longer in a tree being wielded by a monster. Bad news: still right near the monster. He turns to look at the thing, then back at the fight around him, then for a new hiding spot. This isn't very helpful.

Yosirou ends up charging towards another, nearby tree, huddling near the roots. Hopefully it won't start heading this way again. He begins muttering under his breath. The thing is humanoid. It should care about how it looks, right?

"I here abjure; and when I have requir'd some heavenly music - which even now I do, - to work mine end upon their senses that this airy charm is for, I'll break my staff, bury it in certain fathoms in the earth, and, deeper than did ever plummet sound, I'll drown my book."

Just as pyrotechnics and illusion can enhance how something looks, they can detract. The darkness around the three fades out some, as the lights seem brighter and more cheery. The pastels grow stronger in the area, the dark colors weaker. It always sucks for a horrible monster to not be taken very seriously, right?

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has used Prospero on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod narrowly braces Erika Inagawa's Tangerine Storm, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Love Guitar Rod's Block ability activates! Love Guitar Rod's Parry ability activates! Trap applied to Love Guitar Rod!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod fails to counter Tokiko Amagawa and Madobe Kuroi's Combo: Angel Arms, taking 34 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Tokiko Amagawa and Madobe Kuroi are Psyched!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod's counterattack, Absorption, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Tokiko Amagawa!

All of Nanoha's early morning practice is already starting to pay off. At least in the fact that her fire is growing more accurate- even following the directed courses she sets them on. The only issue in all of this is that... Not only does this... THING not seem bothered in the least but it... Changes. Growing, exulting in its apparent success. Blue eyes widen, and for a beat Nanoha seems uncertain.

A few seconds is all it takes.

<WARNING!> Raising Heart bleats, snapping the child back to attention.

That is a tree.

<THAT IS A TREE!>

Well, yes, the Device announces the obvious but-

/That is a tree/.

In her attempt to whip aside, Nanoha is too slow in response, and the dull THUMP and shrill HYELP of pain that follow the impact do not bode well.

The child is launched by the impact, a streak of white and blue sent flying into a nearby wall- smashing into it with enough impact to leave a tiny, Nanoha-shaped crater before she bounces off into a tumbled heap, sprawled on the ground.

"Unh..."

That was more than a little dizzying, and it takes her a second to wobble back to her feet, clutching a pounding skull and bleeding down her forehead.

<ARE YOU OKAY?>

"Y-... Yeah." Mumbled to her Device dizzily. She'd be concerned for a lack of Barrier still if the world wasn't spinning so much.

ITS PHYSICAL POWER IS OVERWHELMING. THE BARRIER JACKET WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SUSTAIN MULTIPLE HITS OF THAT MAGNITUDE.>

"Did it... Did it do that because we used magic on it, though?"

I'M SORRY. I CAN NOT CONFIRM THAT WITH THE CURRENT DATA AVAILABLE.>

"M-mh..."

She'll... She'll just have to make something up. Improvise. Blinking the blur out of her eyes, Nanoha surveys her surroundings. There are chunks of wall and concrete tumbled all around her from her happy fun time adventure in smashing into the wall, and she stomps her foot. A magic circle forms under her, pink glowing runes etching onto the Mid-Childan sigil, and hoists Raising Heart overhead. The rocks and rubble glow suffused with pink light... They lift. And with a huff she directs them at her target, thinking on the fly in using her magic to hurl the rocks in an accelerated pitch at... The THING.

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has used Stardust Fall on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod narrowly dodges Yoshirou Kurotsuki's Prospero, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

Sailor V gives Sweet Pea and Nanoha a little peek as they fade back into the distance behind her. Minako, somehow, seems to have warded off the worst of the creature's dirty energy-sucking from within her little glowing dome of moonlight and -finally- stands up (even though her knees still hurt). She gives another glance about her and sees everybody keeping their distance, projecting all sorts of terrible (and occasionally flowery) goodness or random pieces of the school's grounds at the weird creature to great effect.

At that point, Sailor V decides she has to be a unique snowflake and gives a little salute just for Soldier Angel, then begins to sprint towards the creature and 'walks between the raindrops' of pistol fire and dangerous magic.

She gets in close, ignoring the desire to take cover over behind other trees or just diving to the ground underneath all the friendly fire around her. Then, at what seems to her the most dramatic moment, she jumps vertically with the intent to put her heel in the creature's face, an eye kept open for errant trees swung in her direction.

"Stop ruining the school's beautiful setting," she shouts, mostly directed at her target but really to anybody in the general vicinity who might do something destructive. "It takes hours to maintain the grounds!"

COMBAT: Sailor V has used Sailor V Kick! on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Sailor V has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod fails to brace Sailor V's Sailor V Kick!, taking 16 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod fails to counter Alyce Ducati's Silver Starfall, taking 29 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stun applied to Love Guitar Rod!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod's counterattack, Absorption, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Alyce Ducati!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod narrowly braces Nanoha Takamachi's Stardust Fall, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Love Guitar Rod's Block ability activates! Love Guitar Rod's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod fails to brace Sakura Akagi's Cherry Blossom Petal Spiral, taking 35 Fatigue damage! Blind and Stun applied to Love Guitar Rod!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod perfectly braces Ren Aizawa's Regal Crasher, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Brace! Love Guitar Rod's Block ability activates! Love Guitar Rod's Parry ability activates!

Its new form is rather quickly brutal!! The transformed creature releases its bludgeon, apparently content with the damage it's caused. It creaks, like a seething readiness for the next volley. It receives it, beginning with Erika's Tangerine Storm, which rattles into it. It begins to turn silver, the last few hits sinking into its body before erupting - and then Sweet Pea and Soldier Angel go nuts on it, and the whole metamorphosis wobbles as it tries to engulf energy from two directions at once. The absorption attempt doesn't seem to work especially well, and yet--

"More POWER! More!!"

It snaps back into formation as soon as the barrage slows, its body back to that inky darkness wrapped in an armored tree. It snaps one inky arm up to swat Sailor V aside, but it misses the catch and she hits its shoulder - it responds by wrapping a large hand around her thigh and proceeding to smash her into the pavement like a club!

Yoshirou attempts to ensorcel it, belittling it with what power he can manage, but it - moves, suddenly surging across the distance; its legs galloping with great haste across the range. He is apparently unbothered, instead closing rapidly in on Japanese Cherry Blossom - but Alyce makes her shot first! Again, it opens its belly wide, accepting those blasts into it - it's tough to say what that achieved, because its main reaction is to explode outward a bit, like a cartoon character that ate dynamite.

But it does keep it in place long enough for Nanoha, Japanese Cherry Blossom, and Ren Aizawa to blast it with more of their attacks, each of which sinks into its transformed body and then erupts. With Ren, it actually snaps out, catching the blast with its energy hand, and lets it sink in slowly - absorbing it through its own palm. This appears to work better than absorbing things with its face. ...probably?

It's tough to tell, because the next thing that happens is Lera attacks it across its belly, and it turns a wooden, crooked mask down on her.

And then opens its mouth, and releases a horrifying torrent of evil energy right into her face, a scent like rotten cherry blossoms and rancid tangerines. Then it lunges past her - lopes over her, really - to come down hard on Japanese Cherry Blossom with an overhand smash, flipping over her to snap around to a roundhouse kick on Forever Sunshine which stretches across the courtyard like some One Piece sight gag. It'd be funny if it weren't made of evil energy, and attempting to eat you! It lunges even further, whipping out an arm to grab Sweet Pea, and HURL her downrange toward Soldier Angel!

Then it snaps up its energy arm, blasting toward Nanoha, Alyce, and Ren with bolts of silver and tarnished pink!

"MORE POWER! MORE!! MORE!!!" COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has used Energy Redistribution on Nanoha Takamachi. Alyce Ducati. Ren Aizawa. Lera Camry. Madobe Kuroi. COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has used Silverbodied Kickpunching on Erika Inagawa. Sakura Akagi.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has used Throw Person on Tokiko Amagawa.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has used Mean Things To Do To People on Sailor V.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati narrowly counters Love Guitar Rod's Energy Redistribution, taking 21 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Alyce Ducati's Reverse ability activates! Stun applied to Alyce Ducati!

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati's counterattack, Arcana Defender, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Love Guitar Rod!

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi narrowly dodges Love Guitar Rod's Silverbodied Kickpunching, taking 33 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Trap applied to Sakura Akagi!

COMBAT: Lera Camry fails to dodge Love Guitar Rod's Energy Redistribution, taking 21 Fatigue damage! Stun applied to Lera Camry!

COMBAT: Erika Inagawa narrowly counters Love Guitar Rod's Silverbodied Kickpunching, taking 26 Fatigue damage! Trap applied to Erika Inagawa!

COMBAT: Erika Inagawa's counterattack, Sunshine Intensity, partially gets through, doing 6 Fatigue damage to Love Guitar Rod! Critical Counterhit!

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi narrowly counters Love Guitar Rod's Throw Person, taking 10 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi's counterattack, Sweet Pea Shooters, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Love Guitar Rod!

COMBAT: Tokiko Amagawa fails to brace Love Guitar Rod's Throw Person, taking 27 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Sailor V narrowly counters Love Guitar Rod's Mean Things To Do To People, taking 16 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Sailor V's counterattack, Sailor V Kick!, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Love Guitar Rod!

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi fails to brace Love Guitar Rod's Energy Redistribution, taking 23 Fatigue damage! Stagger and Stun applied to Nanoha Takamachi!

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa narrowly counters Love Guitar Rod's Energy Redistribution, taking 15 Fatigue damage! Stun applied to Ren Aizawa!

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa's counterattack, Joyaux de la Couronne, partially gets through, doing 7 Fatigue damage to Love Guitar Rod! Tangle applied to Love Guitar Rod!

Japanese Cherry Blossom now wonders if this is a bad strategy. Its screams seem to imply it... wants, is EATING the power from their magics somehow. What if all of these attacks are just making it stronger?! But with Sweet Pea's scan coming up a bit empty, there was no way to tell!

Her uncertainty unfortunately makes her hesitate. The attack smashes toward her, crushing her toward the ground...

Cherry Blossom cries out, as her legs buckle, and she ends up falling to her side. She then catches the smell of the evil energy - the scent of corrupted perfume. Maybe it means her suspicions are correct. But... she can't allow the monster to hurt her friends no matter what it might be trying to do!

So she has to do something risky... and try to get its attention. Hopefully she can also send a message to the others too.

She rises to her feet. Her knees wobble, but she stands her ground.

"You! I guess you want to take all of our powers and use them for your own! So show me what you've learned! And then... I'll teach you, a thing or two!"

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has used Hey Big Ugly on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has finished attacking.

".....It worked! That was great! Hooray for us!" Sweet Pea reaches out to give Tokiko a hifive but unlike the ooc chattery in which they jump into the air and give each other a hifive, Sweet Pea finds herself giving the MONSTER a hifive instead. "...Huh?"

It then grabs her arm and swings her around in the air comically for like five seconds before throwing herself at Soldier Angel!

CRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAASH!!

"...Oof..." Sweet Pea manages. "W..well that could've gone better..." She sits herself up and dusts herself off. "Eheh...heh... Soldier Angel? Where'd you go?"

She picks up her fallen sweet pea shooters and opens fire again. "SOLDIER ANGEL!!" She shouts. "IF YOU CAN HEAR ME-- LET'S TRY THAT AGAIN!"

More pink blasts! She doesn't have a lot of varieties. "You want power?!" She shouts, as the pink blasts erupt into sweet pea flowerbuds!

"TRY FLOWER POWER!" COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has used Viewtiful Pea on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has finished attacking.

"Nanoha!" Ouch. That was quite a hit. /With a tree./ But the little mage seems to be alright. Alyce looks quite banged up to. But more importantly both of them aren't out of the fight just yet! /And/ they manage to attack back at the creature! Go team go!

Though Ren's attack? Not successful. "Ehhh?" She deflates a bit.

IT WAS STILL A GOOD ATTACK, YOUR MAJESTY. WE WILL JUST HAVE TO HIT IT HARDER!>

"You're right, Souverain Heraut!" Her chest puffs out again! And it's a good thing she's feeling so confident again because Mr. Monster is launching an attack right at her!

INCOMING THREAT!>

"GOT IT!" Ren twirls her scepter in front of her, causing more gems to spit forth. <JOYAUX DE LA COURONNE> Although these immediately shoot off multiple little tendrils of golden magic that attempt to wrap around the incoming torrent. And they do! Although it's not enough to completely stop her from taking a hit.

"Ooof!" Ren lets out in response, going tumbling backwards through the air. She doesn't regain her balance in time however, and slams into the ground.

"I'm ok..." She mumbles, getting up slowly.

That oppressive, rotting fruit smell makes Forever Sunshine wince backwards, her eyes visibly flattening even as Sweet Pea's guns continue to speak and fire upon the creature, like Panzer 1C cannons... of love.

The foot comes up towards her and she raises her own leg to block. This does not work as well as she had hoped; she is still knocked over, for the third time, although both shoulders do not quite hit the dusty grounds of Infinity Institute - preventing, of course, Diva Heart's immediate victory!!

The blow, though, came with something else; another of those ripplingly fragrant bursts of light. Laying on her side on the ground, Forever Sunshine twitches for a couple of moments, pushing herself upwards - and then flopping on her belly again.

"I'm fine," she says to the mat, before raising up her hand and twirling the air with her fingertip. "Tangerine... /Breeze/!"

And this time, the scented aroma fills the air with a much fresher sort of citrusy smell, which twirls around to focus upon Madobe, Sakura, and the mysterious Soldier Angel -- largely, of course, since they're who Erika recognizes the best.

COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has used Tangerine Breeze on Madobe Kuroi.

COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has used Tangerine Breeze on Sakura Akagi.

COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has used Tangerine Breeze on Tokiko Amagawa.

COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Tokiko Amagawa accepts Erika Inagawa's Tangerine Breeze, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Surge applied to Tokiko Amagawa!

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi accepts Erika Inagawa's Tangerine Breeze, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Surge applied to Sakura Akagi!

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi accepts Erika Inagawa's Tangerine Breeze, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Surge applied to Madobe Kuroi!

"Nice one," Soldier Angel grins and congratulates empty air.

Wait, what

CRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAASH!!

Soldier Angel groans, climbing back to her feet after Sweet Pea gets up off her. "Sweet Pea, no, wait--" TRY FLOWER POWER! She glances across the battlefield, sharing a knowing glance with Japanese Cherry Blossom - and a couple military hand signals that are, likely, completely incomprehensible. She waits for a response, and failing to get one, tries something else.

"Fine! You want power?!" Tokiko holds her right hand up in the air, and her white pearl ring radiates a blinding light, firing up into the sky. There is a sudden roar of backblast, tinted with a citrusy smell, as Tokiko harnesses the borrowed power from Forever Sunshine to call a concentrated magical force in the form of a great white-and-golden Harrier Jump Jet, descending from the skies. The Harrier lowers a ripcord, which Tokiko leaps onto and catches, hanging from it as she yells over the din of its engines, down at the monster.

"You can have it - if you can catch it!! Get us out of range!" The Harrier obeys, hovering over the field just out of the monster's reach, and preparing to lead it on a wild goose chase.

COMBAT: Tokiko Amagawa has used Carrot on a Stick on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Tokiko Amagawa has finished attacking.

Lera throws up an arm; the wooden mask emits a horrifying energy into her face. She takes a deep gasping breath and stumbles backward, her feet trying to catch up with the momentum, and then she stops herself. She shakes her head quickly, sharply, and she catches Nanoha being thrown. Her gold-brown eyes widen and she shakes her head quickly. "Be careful!" she says. "It'll hit hard if it gets close!"

She looks back and takes a breath; then, she nods, holding both of the energy swords in front of her. A magical circle appears under her feet, and flashes upward.

<MIRAGE CHARGE.>

It flashes and glows, and then fades into her, giving her a brief charge.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Mirage Charge on Lera Camry.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Lera Camry accepts Lera Camry's Mirage Charge, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Accelerate and Empower applied to Lera Camry!

Well, good news: monster is not going for squishy wizard. Bad news: monsters does not despise pastels, and also the magic seems to have done absolutely nothing except tire Yoshirou out.

Well, that could have been worse, at least. He lets out a long breath as the huge creature passes his tree without trying to stomp him. He looks over at Tokiko - er, Soldier Angel - but she seems to have things under control. Also, he's not entirely sure how to improve on her special effects in the first place.

He glances around again, and his eyes fall on Alyce. Her magic circle and the shiming spheres are easier. They need more sparkle. They need more light. He nods to himself. "All right..."

"But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief, that thou her maid art far more fair than she: be not her maid, since she is envious: her vestal livery is but sick and green and none but fools do wear it, cast it off."

And the light of Alyce's blasts now burns like the sun, glowing bright white. Moonlit shadows seem to follow her, tinting her Barrier Jacket and highlighting her every move. Very dramatic.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has used Romeo on Alyce Ducati.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati accepts Yoshirou Kurotsuki's Romeo, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

It's still-- grrgh. It's still eating her spells...!

The distorted energy is returned to Nanoha, Ren, and herself with explosive force. This time, Alyce is ready: Her arm extends, palm turned outward and fingers fanned out.

"STOP IT!"

<DEFENDER.>

The brunt of the energy has already made it through. The spell ultimately impacts with the large magic circle-- of an obvious Mid-Childian design-- but Alyce is knocked straight backward. A translucent tether connects her staff and the defense field; the Sergeant's hands clutch tightly around the length of the Device and her heels dig in to keep her upright against the shot. Breathing a little harder than before, her eyes drift up. She catches sight of Lera. ... Interesting.

Running back from the creature, getting a bit more distance, it may seem at first she's about to run away, but...

.O( Nanoha, Ren. I'm gonna try to -- I'll see if I can blast him, but you need to buy me some time. )

"Silver Wind!!"

<CALCULATING.>

Stopping, turning around, Alyce closes her eyes and extends her left arm, her staff swept down and braced along her arm. A silvery-white light erupts beneath her, swelling into the first layer of a Mid-Childian spell.

I can do this, she reaffirms herself. I can do this.

The golden light swells on her coat, highlighting segments of her spell, as well...

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati has used Mid-Childian Manacharge on Alyce Ducati.

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati accepts Alyce Ducati's Mid-Childian Manacharge, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Alyce Ducati is Psyched!

Not particularly according to plan. Even flinging rocks didn't seem to fare any better. And as a result it nets Nanoha a nasty slamming. Hand outstretching again, erecting that pink wall of shielding light, but this time the impact causes her shield to start... Fracturing. Thin cracks forming on the bright pink glow as if it were glass.

And then it shatters.

Again, the girl yelps out in pain, battered aside easily as her Barrier Jacket has to soak the brunt of the blow, which sends her toppling groundwards. It would be a slamming thump into the ground if not for Lera catching her just before impact.

"Muh... Um... Thanks." She's not out just yet, but the world is a blur of pain and blood thumping in her ears. And the shaken child has to take a second to breathe and make her head stop swimming. "Raising Heart..."

I UNDERSTAND. CANNON MODE.> The Device replies, circular golden inset and crimson gem forming into a spear-like head, wings of pink light spreading from behind the gem. <PLEASE BRACE FOR IMPACT. BE WARY OF BACKDBLAST.> She warns both her wielder and Lera due to proximity as Nanoha plants her feet on the pink spell circle that forms beneath her. A rifle grip snaps into place from the middle of the staff... A trigger clicks into firing position, and Nanoha sets her finger on it.

"Raising Heart... Please...!"

<ALRIGHT. DIVINE BUSTER!> It pipes, a small orb of pink forming in front of the tip, bands of light forming a guidance and targetting array in a line directly on a firing path intended for one target alone as that pink sphere grows. Slowly at first, then quirer, filling with mana, channelleing into a much larger projectile. And with a pull of the trigger, the recoil FLINGS the tiny girl off her feet. Backwards with a grunt, as if /this time/ she anticipated it entirely. Which results in a much safer landing on her ass as the massive pink pillar of energy is released in a torrent of fire.

Giant lasers make for good distractions right?

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has used Divine Buster: Shoot on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod fails to dodge Sakura Akagi's Hey Big Ugly, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Love Guitar Rod is Quipped!

Sailor V's body makes an arc through the air as she's aimed straight for the pavement. Her limbs are momentarily stretched straight out due to the centrifugal force of being treated like a club while trapped in the meaty (woody?) fist of the tree-monster as something "very mean" is about to be done to her. With one hand, she wrenches at the thumb and hand, trying to pull them open so can slip out. Failing that, she tries to curl her body up and not have her head way out there for convenient pavement-swatting. Meanwhile, her other hand calmly clutches at her skirt to keep it in place.

She doesn't -seem- to be exerting much effort while enacting this plan, not so much to show off or because she's really capable, but because she doesn't have much room at all to move and absolutely no leverage on her new monster friend. Yet somehow, she manages to make this plan work as she remains within the unfriendly creature's grip, but is no longer helpless.

"Inappropriate touching and holding of hands or other body parts are actions strictly against our school's code of conduct! You must control yourself in the presence of the beautiful Sailor V, whether you feel compelled to pick her up and swing her everywhere or even recite LoveLove Shakespeare poems at her!" she announces, pushing her fingertip into the 'skin' of the creature and making a little gunshot motion with it before trying to set it alight with crescent beams.

Also, less heroic and under her breath as she subtly tries to shift her body behind the monster's arm and interpose it between herself and her allies: 'Don't shoot me!'

COMBAT: Sailor V has used Crescent Beam on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Sailor V has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod perfectly counters Madobe Kuroi's Viewtiful Pea, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Counter!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod's counterattack, Absorption, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Madobe Kuroi!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod fails to dodge Tokiko Amagawa's Carrot on a Stick, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Love Guitar Rod is Quipped!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod perfectly counters Sailor V's Crescent Beam, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod's counterattack, Absorption, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sailor V!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod fails to counter Nanoha Takamachi's Divine Buster: Shoot, taking 56 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod's counterattack, Absorption, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Nanoha Takamachi!

Alyce's mental instructions come in loud and clear. Ren nods slowly, adjusting her grip on Souverain Heraut.

.O( Alright! But... do you know who that other mage who caught Nanoha is? ) A curious glance is cast in Lera's direction. Maybe they'll be able to solve that puzzle after the battle.

Twirling the scepter like a baton (each your hearts out cheer squad!) Ren then throws the rod into the air above her.

<FLASH MAELSTROM.> Several bursts of light pulse outward from the head of the scepter, each one ending in a cacophony of exploding fireworks when they reach the rampaging creature. And they're, of course, pretty to look at!

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Flash Maelstrom on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod narrowly counters Ren Aizawa's Flash Maelstrom, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Diversion applied to Love Guitar Rod!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod's counterattack, Absorption, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Ren Aizawa!

The creature's howling gives Japanese Cherry Blossom a terrible insight, but...could it possibly be true?! The silver creature turns to glare at her, its eyes gleaming. She wants to see, does she...?

And the other one in the sky taunts it just the same, and it...just sorta sits there, considering this turn of events for a long few seconds. "You tempt me to flee, do you?" it asks, suddenly.

...oh, shit, it's evolved beyond being Tim Taylor!?

"But all the power I need...IS IN FRONT OF ME!!"

Most people spend this moment charging themselves up - and so it just stand there and /takes/ it when Madobe starts blasting it with flower power. But this time, it doesn't explode - the whole monster turns silver again, reverting partially to its true form, and its belly implodes inward, simply /taking/ her blast's power. Sailor V fires her Crescent Beam directly into its gut, and it takes that, too, the whole monster roiling hungrily. Ren's blast likewise is devoured, the whole form shaking and growing with every blast absorbed! It's devouring all that strength, a tremendous cacophany of power, and--

And then Nanoha goes bonkers on it.

She aims her blast directly into its distended gut, and it roars in glorious triumph - and then...turns...pink.

For a second it just sort of sits there - like biting off more than you can swallow, an awkward moment of uncertainty hanging in the air.

And then that alien face forms in the ooze, eyes gleaming ominously. "I've tasted...a wonderful power...! If you want to see it...HAVE IT!!"

And then it yawns the image of a mouth open - and that terrifying blast wave from Nanoha suddenly RAKES outward, blasting a horrible ray across the battle field. And when it hits someone, the mouth closes. The face relocates.

And then it does it again, another wave of pink and silver and flowers. For a finale, it shoots straight upward - a blast into the sky, trying to tear Tokiko out of the heavens!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has used Energy Redistribution on Nanoha Takamachi. Sakura Akagi. Tokiko Amagawa. Ren Aizawa.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has used SUCH POWER... on Alyce Ducati. Lera Camry. Madobe Kuroi. Erika Inagawa. Sailor V.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi fails to brace Love Guitar Rod's SUCH POWER..., taking 30 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Love Guitar Rod is Psyched!

COMBAT: Erika Inagawa fails to dodge Love Guitar Rod's SUCH POWER..., taking 22 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi fails to dodge Love Guitar Rod's Energy Redistribution, taking 22 Fatigue damage! Stun applied to Nanoha Takamachi!

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati fails to dodge Love Guitar Rod's SUCH POWER..., taking 22 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Tokiko Amagawa narrowly counters Love Guitar Rod's Energy Redistribution, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Tokiko Amagawa's Tactician ability activates! Stagger and Stun applied to Tokiko Amagawa!

COMBAT: Tokiko Amagawa's counterattack, Heavenly Air Raid, partially gets through, doing 35 Fatigue damage to Love Guitar Rod!

COMBAT: Lera Camry narrowly dodges Love Guitar Rod's SUCH POWER..., taking 13 Fatigue damage! Lera Camry's Fade ability activates! Lera Camry's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Sailor V fails to brace Love Guitar Rod's SUCH POWER..., taking 30 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa fails to dodge Love Guitar Rod's Energy Redistribution, taking 25 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stagger applied to Ren Aizawa!

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi narrowly counters Love Guitar Rod's Energy Redistribution, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Stagger and Stun applied to Sakura Akagi!

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi's counterattack, Blossom Burst, partially gets through, doing 13 Fatigue damage to Love Guitar Rod! Critical Counterhit!

"You're not going to get that power out of us! We're not going to let you do this!" Lera says. She raises both of her swords up, then she lunges forward, and the blast of energy shoots out, ripping through the surroundings. She dives around it, though some of it brushes close enough by to send her hair flapping out behind her. She takes a deep breath, and she lands, then she runs forward. She extends her energy swords to each side.

"Soaring Sky!" she says. "We have to bring this thing down! Let's show it what someone from Mid-Chi--"

<EARTH.>

"Riiiight, /Earth/," Lera corrects with a nervous laugh, then resumes her determined tone, "--can do!"

<UNDERSTOOD. COMBINATION CRUSADE.

Another magical circle appears on the ground under her. Lera runs right through it and it flashes; she back flips into the air, trailing red light after her rapidly, and then comes crashing down at the Unknown Enemy. She chops both swords down simultaneously, then lands in front of it. She slashes them at once, crossing them together, and pivots on her left foot, combat boot cutting into the dirt. She kicks her right foot at it.

"Soar!" she yells, "Higher! HIGHER!"

She swings the left sword in a diagonal slash, then stabs the right at it. The blades parted halves punch at it, the energy blade between them stabbing -- and the bronze halves split open, and fire a final energy spike that extends out some twelve feet past her.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Lera Camry has used Combination Crusade on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.

Panic time. "GET US CLEAR!" Soldier Angel yells, climbing up the ripcord and disappearing into the magical VTOL. The VTOL roars in the sky, swinging heavily and taking heavy damage from the mighty redirected lovebeam. "Payload release!" comes the Soldier Angel's voice from within the rocking, burning craft, and a bomb bay opens on its underside as it swings violently over the unidentified enemy. A number of golden warheads rain down upon the creature, exploding in quick succession with a shower of white starlight.

And Soldier Angel? She is straddling the final warhead, gripping a white minigun torn from its bipod, screaming bloody murder as she fires a gatling barrage down at the monster. "HEAVENLY AIR RAID!!" She leaps free at the last moment, tossing the magical minigun aside and flipping in midair as she flies free of the final explosion.

COMBAT: Tokiko Amagawa has used Angel Heavy Arms on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Tokiko Amagawa has finished attacking.

Not more beams!! Forever Sunshine is blasted into the air again, pinwheeling like a ragdoll, one of her 'mouse ears' showing signs of critical damage. In fact, as she lands, it breaks off, fluttering off tragically and evanesceing as she looks up again. She's shaking, but --

Back on her feet!!

And as the horrible creature's head inclines upwards, she sees, in a critical moment, an opening. She does not think to invoke her newly practiced magic, save on a reflex that makes her approaching dash trail fragrant hints of sandalwood smoke (FROM BURNING UP THE HIGHWAY).

"If Miss Maul's gonna mess it up with her swords," she breathes to herself, trying to ignore the bruises and that feeling like her shoulder's a little out of its socket, "it's gonna focus on her. And if she's pulling out the double saber technique--"

"It's got to go down!!"

The final blow comes without sorcerous invocation. Skidding to a halt and throwing up another plume of sandalwood-scented dust, Forever Sunshine sinks downwards, low enough to practically put her butt on the heel of one foot. The other leg kicks forwards, like a lumberjack's picaroon, to hit the thing's lower quarter leg equivalents and pull them outwards. And hopefully, like a lumberjack's waltz, it will satisfy completely.

COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has used Freeman Family Secret Technique on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Erika Inagawa has finished attacking.

Chargin' her lazar.

"I'm almost ready--"

Then, an amazing blast. Alyce shifts her weight, bringing her staff up in an attempt to protect herself. She attempts to move, but the POWER is too great; the blast impacts square to her chest and sends her right off her feet with a pained gasp. Hitting flat on her back, the coat scuffs, the shock of the impact rings through her chest.

Still, she gets back up.

Her arm extends, palm turned out. Eyes close, and a crackling swirl of arcane energy forms beneath her. It hisses, burns, and then blazes toward the creature on arcs and turns before a crushing impact!

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati has used Silver Bullet on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati has finished attacking.

Cherry Blossom uses a little stored up energy to return the attack aimed in her direction. A wave of pink cherry blossoms and wind strike against the monster's return attack.

In fact, both get through, the energy redistribution slowing Cherry Blossom down as she stands in its wake. Knowing now that her own powers seem to be feeding the monster's hunger... she feels uncertain she can continue to attack in confidence.

She lowers her head and braces herself. What is about to happen next after all, will not be pretty either way.

She inhales sharply. Maybe there is some nostalgic scent that can give her insight. She can't really be sure. "Secrets of the past, please... let us learn more about this unknown evil," she says, almost in prayer. Her aura builds around her.

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has used Cherry Charge on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has finished attacking.

Sweet Pea thinks: It's talking now! She steps backwards. Can flower power be turned against her?! That could be terrible! But wait--SHE shoots with pink energy and flowers--maybe that means she's resitant to it--she lowers her guard for a moment and

FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH! Sweet Pea goes flying through the air, crashing against the wall of the Infinity Institute. Pink flowers sprout out of her all over. Her eyes have taken a decidedly SWIRLY mentality--

Maybe she shouldn't shoot it at all, she thinks, but then what can she d--

--oh wait, Tokiko is shooting it now, Madobe thinks, that means it's okay to shoot now!

Sweet Pea stands herself up, coughing a few times into her fist, and then straightens, rolling her shoulders back. "Hahh.... Okay!!" She says, pointing both pistols towards the UNKNOWN ENEMY. And then she says, "IF you're so tough... then give us a name!" She points a finger at the monster. "Nobody in the history of manga or video games have lost to some no name monster that can't even be bothered to be anything but unknown! And that's you!!"

She swings both pistols forward and fires them simultaneously towards the beast, a huge pink swath of energy erupts forward, threatening to encompass the monster--and cover it in--YES!--more flowers!

"--It was okay to do that now right??" She adds as an afterthought.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Madobe Kuroi has used Sweet Pea Shotgun Sojourn on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has finished attacking.

It's... It's pink now.

And after that mass expenditure of mana, Nanoha picks up to her feet, only for wobbly legs to drop ber back down. Twin exhaust vents pop open as Raising Heart bleeds off the accumulated heat in a flushing hiss of steam. "Do you think if we keep feeding it, it'll get indigestion..."

Murmured as blurry vision focuses on that one, uncertain, moment of seeming hesitation.

Before a Divine Buster is flung right back in her face.

"Ah..."

<THAT IS CHEATING!>

It's not pleasant. Not very pleasant at all as a smoldering little redhead is launched tumbling, Barrier Jacket in tatters, golden chestplate dented and battered. Nanoha has to brace on Raising Heart to prop herself up, cracks showing on the Device's shaft and head.

<CAN YOU CONTINUE?>

"Yeah..."

She stays right where she is, though, taking a moment to just collect herself and recover.

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has used Catch Breath on Nanoha Takamachi.

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi accepts Nanoha Takamachi's Catch Breath, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

Yoshirou has done a lot of magic in a very short period. And now, well, now it sems like things are heating up to a point at which he can't really do anything useful. He begins to sneak away from the battle. So far, the creature has ignored him. That's good. He can work out why the shadow creature form it took was so oddly striking later. Right now, his only thought is 'get away before something explodes.

Uh oh. What's that it says about tasting a wonderful power? "...This is not good." Ren says, having summoned the scepter back to her hands, holding in front of her defensively. And of course she's right in assuming how not good this is going to turn out. The monster shoots a blast from its wide open mouth. But not just any blast -- it's the one Nanoha fired just now! Gasp! And it repeats this, targeting everyone it can.

Ren tries to evade like earlier, but to no avail. She takes a critical hit! Letting out a scream of pain and surprise, her body is sent skidding back along the concrete. The only thing that stops her? A WALL. CRASH! Much like Nanoha she leaves a nifty body-shaped imprint. Except it's not really all that nifty.

"Ugh..." Ren pulls herself from the wall, stumbling forward a bit. Her barrier jacket is looking significantly rumpled, and there are bruises here and there that it wasn't able to totally protect her from acquiring. "I'm not tired... No..." She cltuches her side slightly, managing to hobble forward. "Everyone is giving it their best... And so will I!"

I AM WITH YOU, YOUR MAJESTY. SEEKER BARRAGE> Souverain Heraut conjures up more gems, each one zipping off to pummel at the treacherous opponent before them. "GO BERSERK!"

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Seeker Barrage on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod fails to brace Lera Camry's Finisher, Combination Crusade, taking 113 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod narrowly braces Madobe Kuroi's Finisher, Sweet Pea Shotgun Sojourn, taking 32 Fatigue damage! Love Guitar Rod's Block ability activates! Love Guitar Rod's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod narrowly braces Sakura Akagi's Cherry Charge, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Sakura Akagi is Psyched! Love Guitar Rod's Block ability activates! Love Guitar Rod's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod narrowly dodges Tokiko Amagawa's Angel Heavy Arms, taking 29 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod fails to dodge Alyce Ducati's Silver Bullet, taking 21 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod perfectly counters Ren Aizawa's Seeker Barrage, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Counter!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod's counterattack, Absorption, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Ren Aizawa!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod narrowly braces Erika Inagawa's Freeman Family Secret Technique, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Erika Inagawa is Psyched! Love Guitar Rod's Block ability activates! Love Guitar Rod's Parry ability activates!

Sailor V spends a moment watching strange surfacing faces appear and blast her other combatants. It looks uncomfortably like vomiting, especially from her angle. For her part, she tries to tug and jerk and kick the creature about to mess with its aim, with mediocre results. A moment later, apparently displeased with her actions, a little face appears in front of Minako's face and makes an uncomfortable sound as well as an equally unpleasant attack, turning her costume an unfashionable shade of 'singed'.

Unfortunately for Minako, she's at ground zero for any unpleasant attacks coming her way. She jerks her body to one side, then the other, then she just jumps across the monster and grabs it by the shoulder, at one moment trying to keep it from swinging its arms around and the next moment jamming her little compact into it like a knife.

"Stop resisting being defeated!"

COMBAT: Sailor V has used Uneven (Arm)-Bar on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Sailor V has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod fails to dodge Sailor V's Uneven (Arm)-Bar, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Stagger applied to Love Guitar Rod!

Its yawning hunger is met with everyone going sort of bonkers on it! When Soldier Angel blasts it with her heavenly air raid, the still-silver monster tries to absorb those blasts of starlight, but it's not quite able to feed properly before others are on it - Forever Sunshine just pummels the transforming creature enough to lay it out, and Alyce blasts it again - again, it just /takes/ that power, hungrily devouring. "You have such wonderful power!" it laughs. As it gains more strength, every assault it absorbs, its words become less deranged, less ravenous; like a dying man taking in nourishment, it becomes more able to speak and be heard.

Sweet Pea lays into it with her blasters one more time, and it again does its best to devour all of that energy. It's not even attempting to hide it, now. But it's also getting greedy - hungrily remaining. Could this be its undoing--!?

It yawns open, and Ren's blasts simply vanish into its depth; it grows, shooting outward, and then that power is contracted back into the main mass. At about this point, Minako goes bonkers on it, and it merrily engages in rapid fisticuffs with her as its form slowly resumes its monstrous origin.

And then Lera lays into it. It burbles and roars, trying to lash out in response, but she's got it dead to rights - and a final horrible spike juts out of its belly.

It hangs there for a second. Did...did that do it...?

"Such a marvelous power...I WANT MORE!!"

And then its entire body deforms into the silver monster and it just CHOMPS down on Lera.

It mostly is attempting to eat her Device, but it'll take her, while it's at it.

And while it's doing that, it lashes out - blasts of negative starlight and corrupted perfumes, tainted pink and tarnished silver - and then, as Yoshirou attempts to flee...its face appears in the silver.

"You...I want your power, as well!!"

And then a huge horrible tendril of silver goop leaps across the distance from the silver sphere chewing on Lera's arms, and attempts to slam down on Yoshirou.

Apparently it has decided that eating energy beams is no longer enough to satisfy it, so it's just going to start eating people, instead. COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has used This Is My POWER on Sailor V. Nanoha Takamachi. Alyce Ducati. Ren Aizawa.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Love Guitar Rod has used Ultimate Consumption on Lera Camry.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has used This Is My POWER on Madobe Kuroi. Erika Inagawa. Sakura Akagi.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has used Devour on Yoshirou Kurotsuki.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Lera Camry narrowly dodges Love Guitar Rod's Finisher, Ultimate Consumption, taking 9 Mana damage! Lera Camry's Fade ability activates! Lera Camry's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Tokiko Amagawa covers Yoshirou Kurotsuki for Love Guitar Rod's attack, Devour, taking it upon themselves instead!

COMBAT: Tokiko Amagawa fails to dodge Love Guitar Rod's Devour, taking 36 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Erika Inagawa fails to dodge Love Guitar Rod's This Is My POWER, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Erika Inagawa is unable to keep fighting!

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi narrowly dodges Love Guitar Rod's This Is My POWER, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Madobe Kuroi's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Sailor V perfectly dodges Love Guitar Rod's This Is My POWER, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Dodge! Sailor V's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa narrowly dodges Love Guitar Rod's This Is My POWER, taking 9 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi narrowly dodges Love Guitar Rod's This Is My POWER, taking 10 Fatigue damage!

The silvery monster leans in and tries to take a bite of Lera. Its jaws clamp down, but find no purchase, as she pulls her sword back, leaps, and does a quick backflip. Her feet pass underneath the chomp of its teeth, the wind of the blow blasting by her, and she comes up landing in a crouch. She takes a deep breath, making another magical circle appear underneath her feet.

MIRAGE CHARGE.

It blass upward, infusing her again with a red glow.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has used Mirage Charge on Lera Camry.

COMBAT: Lera Camry has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Lera Camry accepts Lera Camry's Mirage Charge, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Accelerate and Empower applied to Lera Camry!

The Soldier Angel hits the ground tumbling, as the VTOL dissolves into the air in mid-crash, thankfully doing no damage to the campus before it disappears. She turns around, and a look of horror crosses across her face.

"Yokkun!!"

There's only one person who calls Yoshirou Kurotsuki that, and she goes to school at Infinity. The Soldier Angel breaks directly for Yoshirou as the tendril reaches out for him, tackling him out of the way. Yoshirou gets clear - Tokiko doesn't, and the tendril sends her tumbling across the hard campus cobblestone, eliciting blood from her forehead and the palms of her hands.

"Not over," she says, staggering punch-drunk back to her feet. She breaks into a run again, leaping upon the back of the silver monster, and a golden combat knife forms in her hand to attempt to drive into what only might be called the flesh of the beast, and hopefully drag it jagged across its length. "You come to my school and attack my friend? Not over!!" She's swaying pretty heavily as she does this.

COMBAT: Tokiko Amagawa has used Close Quarters Miracle on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Tokiko Amagawa has finished attacking.

It's possible that too much power could cause the creature to destroy itself with its gluttony. That prayer gives Sakura sudden hope.

Japanese Cherry Blossom opens her eyes, and opens her hands outward to look at the being. The power that it's consumed must still be inside it, but it may also be what ends up tearing it apart. She has to try, for if she doesn't, this horrible being might lay waste to her friends, their school, and everything else.

The pink color around her body, which was growing with her earlier meditation, intensifies. The air begins to fill with flowers, suspended around her. They shine with pink and white light, spreading out like little stars as they begin to form a shape like one gigantic blossom. The wave swirls around her once, and she turns a circle, her sleeves billowing.

"Cherry Blossom--"

The petals and blossoms fly toward the monster, whipping a beautiful-scented wind-

"Elimination!"

COMBAT: FINISHER! Sakura Akagi has used Cherry Blossom Elimination on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi narrowly counters Love Guitar Rod's This Is My POWER, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Nanoha Takamachi's Tactician ability activates!

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi's counterattack, Round Shield, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Love Guitar Rod!

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi tries to cover Alyce Ducati for Love Guitar Rod's attack, This Is My POWER, but cannot get there in time!

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati narrowly braces Love Guitar Rod's This Is My POWER, taking 5 Fatigue damage!

Sweet Pea bounces around, avoiding pink and tarnished silver blasts, but it's clear she's getting tired here!

"Sailor V... I'm running out of flowers and pinkness... it's up to you and Neechan okay?" She waggles her arms encouragingly. She is so low on power right now she's actually turned /chibi/.

Waggle waggle arm arm.

She doesn't have a video game to have Sailor V sign--but perhaps...this will be enough!

"You are super creepy!! What are you even trying to do here?! It's like you're taking our magic - or Force, or, whatever, and you're just pooping it out!!" Forever Sunshine says, heatedly. And having revealed, perhaps, a piece of the puzzle --

SHE DIES.

Well, not really. The beam comes towards her at close quarters; she is leaping away when it hits the ground, which spares her severe injury. It does, however, mean that she is launched upwards, clearing the Infinity bleachers. She kicks in the air, which at least reveals that she has not died forever.

She looks at her hand, where she had gathered a swirling of pink power again. "Well, poopie," she says.

She lands in a decorative water feature. *KSPLOOSH*

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has used Go Hero Protaganist on Sailor V.

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has finished attacking.

"Damn you!" Ren cries out in frustration as she watches the greedy foe eat her attack -- and others, to boot. "It's just going to keep doing this..." Souverain Heraut is being held in a death grip right about now. But there's a bit of hope when Lera's powerful hit makes contact. Ren leans forward, eyes widening. Could it... NO! Just like the monster's been doing all this time it vomits everything magical right back at them. Ren jumps aside, but gets partially caught by a stray blast in her side, which seriously screws up her trajectory and almost leads to her faceplanting to the ground. But luckily she just lands unsteadily on her feet, panting heavily, looking like hell.

<YOUR MAJESTY!> Awww. Concern from the stately device makes Ren grin despite the pain she's in. "It's ok Souverain Heraut. It barely got me." The blood trickling down her side where her barrier jacket has been ripped says otherwise, however.

Ren raises an unsteady hand, pointing it directly at the awful magic-guzzling fiend. "I'm not losing to that... Because I'm the Bearer of the royal mantle... Inheritor of the one throne... Empress of the battlefield... Imperial Chancellor Ren!" That? Was a role call. FEEL HER FURY!

Sweet Pea also rushes over to help Erika so she doesn't, like, drown or something :(.

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Sovereign's Declaration on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Sailor V accepts Madobe Kuroi's Go Hero Protaganist, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

Forever Sunshine had flopped partway out of the fountain. She'll be OK! She can't die until at least the third-

-er-

anyway-

Yoshirou flees, but he can feel the power welling up behind him. (Also, hear the horrible silver creature.) "What-" He turns, bracing for an imapct that never comes. "No! Tocchan!" Hopefully no one will remember that in the morning. He winces, but...she's still up. That's good. Even if he can't do anything to help her...

Yoshirou turns that over in his head. He has a few last dregs of power. And there's enough magic flying around right now...and if there's one thing that he's learned to do as the Star Lion, it's tap into power. Sometimes even too much of it.

Yoshirou closes his eyes. He takes a deep breath, summoning up a magic circle around him. There's only so much he can do...but every little bit helps, right? Even this.

"Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd. Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined. Harpier cries 'Tis time, 'tis time.' Round about the cauldron go: in the poison'd entrails throw. Toad, that under cold stone days and nights has thirty-one swelter'd venom sleeping got, boil thou first i' the charmed pot. Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble."

Yoshirou raises his hands to the sky, calling up as much power as he can.

Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf, witches' mummy, maw and gulf of the ravin'd salt-sea shark, root of hemlock digg'd i the dark, live of blaspheming Jew, gall of goat, and slips of yew sliver'd in the moon's eclipse, nose of Turk and Tartar's lips, finger of birth-strangled babe ditch-deliver'd by a drab, make the gruel thick and slab. Add thereto a tiger's chaudron, for the ingredients of our cauldron. Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble."

Shadows rise around Yoshirou. It's the magic he's best at, and he's calling up as much as he cna.

"Cool it with a babooon's blood, then the charm is firm and good. O well done! I commend your pains; and every one shall share i' the gain; and now about the cauldren sing, live elves and fairies in a ring enchanting all that you put in...by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes!" 5rThe darkness explodes forth from Yoshirou towards the strange monster. Compared to the blasts that have just been unleashed, it is nearly nothing. But for a wizard without the power of the girls here today...well, it's very impressive indeed. Impressive enough to send Yoshirou to the ground, gasping and shaking from the effort.

Nanoha's legs are failing her. Try as she might to stand, it's not happening, no matter how much weight she tries to support on her Device. Getting out of the way is simply not a viable option as the twisted array of multiple power sets are turned back on their very own wielders. Nanoha doesn't even try getting out of the way. The inbound miasma of sickly colored lights and warped perfume scents will tear her apart if she doesn't stop it. And that's why she holds out her left hand.

The bright pink light of a spell rune forms in the air in front of her, a perfect circle, inscribed with sigils and star, hovering in front of her. It buffets each impact, cracking under the strain as Nanoha's gauntlet buckles. That armored metal wrist-giard cracking as well as her glove shreds, blood flowing between her fingers as...

The shield holds.

"Nnnh...!" And she manages to stand. She takes... One tottering step towards Alyce before she can just simply keep up no longer and is back on her knees.

"Raising Heart..."

<FIRE WHEN YOU ARE READY.> is all her Device says as she pulls the trigger. She can't sustain another Divine Buster. But she still has enough for one last shot.

Hint: It's still a big beam.

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has used Heavy Laser on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Nanoha Takamachi has finished attacking.

Sailor V jumps away from stomach spikes and lands on her feet, stepping back and forth in a tight little dance to avoid being skewered by dirty beams of light. It's actually pretty impressive. She hears some more Shakespeare and shouts at people to stop quoting love poetry at her while she's trying to work. Then, taking her cue from cheering and fangirling, she realizes now is the moment makes sure her follow-up attack is unnecessarily extravagant, trying to hit when something explosive blows up on her on the monster.

This might be somewhat less impressive.

Her intent is to create the illusion that her knuckles occasionally cause things to explode. Luckily, here comes a laser.

COMBAT: Sailor V has used Flashy Sailor-V Explosion Punch on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Sailor V has finished attacking.

More magic is turned back on them; the corrupted energy and the dark auras that are wielded by the creature are proving to be quite dangerous. The trainee mage takes a rather harsh blow; the elder Time-Space Administration Bureau representative turns her attention away for just a moment. "Ghh--"

Nanoha...!!

The energy returned impacts with another quick mana shield, the circle of magic deflecting the blow away from a dead-on impact. Her Barrier Jacket has seen better days, too, from the tears in the shoulder to the ragged hole in the main jacket that leaves a frayed black turtleneck underneath quite visible.

Hefting the staff, determined as ever, the mage brings Silver Wind straight up over her head. The butt end of the staff morphs slightly; a pale white light forms over one end to form a pressure-activated device.

IMPACT.>

Then, she slams it down on the ground. Magic ripples through the ground in the form of sparks and motes of light that seem to shine through the courtyard itself... until it reaches the morphic monstrocity, erupting up from the ground in sharp, angry spires!

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati has used Silver Spiker on Love Guitar Rod.

COMBAT: Alyce Ducati has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod accepts Nanoha Takamachi's Heavy Laser, taking 22 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod accepts Sailor V's Flashy Sailor-V Explosion Punch, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Sailor V is Psyched!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod accepts Tokiko Amagawa's Close Quarters Miracle, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Tokiko Amagawa is Psyched!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod accepts Ren Aizawa's Sovereign's Declaration, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Love Guitar Rod is Taunted! Cripple and Diversion applied to Love Guitar Rod!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod accepts Alyce Ducati's Silver Spiker, taking 25 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Alyce Ducati is Psyched!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod accepts Yoshirou Kurotsuki's Weird Sisters, taking 19 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Love Guitar Rod accepts Sakura Akagi's Finisher, Cherry Blossom Elimination, taking 60 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Love Guitar Rod is unable to keep fighting!

It attempts to eat Lera, and also Yoshirou. Lera effortlressly evades - and Soldier Angel leaps in the way of its attempt to devour that tasty magus, resulting in her deciding to beat the crap out of it instead. Shanking!? It can't absorb shankings!!

Ren yells at it. It glares at her.

Yoshirou, though, Yoshirou releases his own fury - ancient, powerful magic, shadows deep and roiling. A wave of buffeting darkness - not Darkness, necessarily, but dark just the same, evil power rioting over the silver creature. It does not, quite, manage to devour that strength - perhaps because Nanoha is currently blasting it in the face again. It roars, wordless, trying to swallow it whole - just in time for Alyce to release her wave of stabbing spikes into its gut. It can't absorb shankings, we just established this!! It's abandoned all pretense of its assumed form, attempting to retake it only to be shot again, stabbed anew.

Japanese Cherry Blossom figured out its secret, though - and is desperately attempting to defy the odds. Can it absorb the full extremity of her power? Can anything be done about this ...!?

It digs into the silver horror - blasting into its mass. It caves inward, that pink wave shooting into its center of mass. It's trying to eat it, like it's tried with all the others. The interior turns an elegant, delicate pink--

And then there is a terrible light, color shooting out of its mass, erupting from its mouth. A wave of stolen lights erupts from inside it, spraying out in every direction, dazzling the eyes--!

"I've tasted such marvelous...power..."

When the light fades, the creature has vanished. But did it escape...or was it destroyed?

Japanese Cherry Blossom sighs deeply, falling to her knees. Stray petals scatter around her in the dying winds of her magic.

She shuts her eyes to the light, then opens them again when the creature is gone. "My friends... thank you. We'll... talk about this, but please, everyone take care of yourselves now."

"W...whew..." Madobe says, breathing out. "......I guess it's over..." She seems ready to fall over--and tries to pull Erika off somewhere private so they can dehenshin and also maybe like help her recover and whatnot.

It's late that's the best pose I can do! AHHH!

It's gone? It certainly looks that way. Ren's knees buckle and she falls over onto all fours, Souverain Heraut clattering to the ground next to her. "Thank... goodness." She's already pondering her actions during the battle, however. Beating herself up! As if she hasn't gotten beaten up enough already!

=======================================

(Battle Fantasia - Monday, October 07, 2013)

Yamanote High City - Shibuya Shopping Ward

 If Shinjuku is the business and administrative center of Tokyo, Shibuya is    
 the center for shopping and fashion. The busy Shibuya Station is surrounded   
 by shoe stores, boutiques, and high-end department stores, and the areas      
 reputation for producing hip new styles has only improved in recent years.    
 Highlights of the area include the expensively elegant Osa-P jewelry store,   
 the trendy Shibuya 109 department store, the Fairy Drop ladies' fashion       
 shop, and the charming Hanasaki Flower Shop. Clover Street, to the east,      
 focuses on more traditional Japanese clothing.                                
                                                                               
 To the north, the Harajuku Station serves as a nexus for even more daring,    
 experimental styles, including frilly gothic lolita, glam-rock visual kei,    
 and Western styles such as punk rock. Sundays in Harajuku are a sort of       
 unofficial fashion show, where young people gather to show off their cutting  
 edge fashionable attire.                                                      
                                                                               
 Even as Shibuya helps design the latest styles of today, however, it does     
 not forget yesterday. The Meiji Shrine, consisting of 175 acres of forest     
 and gardens set aside to honor the spirits of the Meiji Emperor and Empress   
 from the turn of the 19th century, helps to bring a measure of peace to a     
 fast-paced district. This same park includes the Yoyogi National Gymnasium,   
 with its swooping suspension roof, pool facilities, and basketball courts,    
 built for the 1964 Olympics, and several smaller buildings for other          
 athletic events. The National Noh Theatre is in the district as well, as is   
 the New National Theatre, which focuses more on Western performance arts      
 like ballet and opera.        

Black Sea Yogurt is having a marketing day here on a sunny late-September afternoon. Positioned cunningly to attract foot traffic, the event has been advertised widely through handbills and radio.

Some kitschy Central Asian cloth banners carrying the name of the delicious and filling low-calorie treat help section off the parking lot that has become the center of this fiesta. To one side, several women with colorful hair are selling six-packs, twelve-packs, and even forty-eight packs of the yogurt for passing shoppers at a steep discount; to another, there are free samples made available for all and sundry in all of Black Sea's characteristic flavors. Nummy!

Another stage has had various performers - just now, an Authentic Dancer (with Authentic Cultural Music) is finishing her act, climbing down the stairs with her tasseled outfit jingling merrily. Up next is 'The Amazing Umbrali' - a stage magician, it would seem. (The hand-painted sign is in English letters, and has been corrected several times.)

But the REAL action is on the main stage. A man in an impressive-looking Mongolian outfit announces, "We'll be introducing our prospective Black Sea Spokesmodels in JUUUUST a moment, folks. Cheer for your favorites! Get excited! Your energy is what will choose our winner!!"

Get hype.

- - -

(OOC note: Feel free to mill about. Candidates for Spokesmodel, please give your speeches and talent performances all in one go, so that we can choose a winner and quickly move to the most magical part of things: the runoff process.)

[OOC] Global: Queen Beryl has set the Scene Pose. Sakura Kinomoto is out doing some shopping, picking up some things for her papa. Such a good girl! But now she's done with that and she has some of her own money left over, and now there's some fancy-looking ladies selling yogurt. Curious, she skates on up and has a look. "Ooh, this looks delicious!" The Amazing Umbrali is a slim young man, though give his outfit it's kind of hard to tell his age. He's gone for a black suit with a huge black cape, black top hat and black half-mask that makes it very hard to tell anything other than 'this dude really likes the color black.' He has white gloves on, though! He has no lovely assistant, so he is setting his own stuff up.

Which seems to mostly involve boxes.

Tomomi Shizuka has no interest in yogurt. She has trouble with lactose. She does like stage magic, and is here to watch the Amazing Umbrali with idle curiosity.

Tomomi fishes out her iPhone once in a while to Tweet. (The case is yellow and black and decorated with images of cartoony bees.)

Suzu Hamasaki is not a prospective Black Sea Spokesmodel.

For any number of reasons, Suzu didn't think that was a very good idea (number one was that she is not very good at speeches and has few talents suitable for demonstration like this other than singing). Plus, she isn't sure how you tell if you are a sporty young woman. Are there guidelines? Is this how all idols get picked?

But she does like Black Sea Yogurt, and Suzu needs a break. Between youma and Survival Club, she's been pretty tired the last couple days, and /not/ going to do homework right after class sounded like an okay idea to her.

Suzu is hanging around near the stage. She is not in her Juuban uniform, but she apparently dresses not that differently even without it; white shirt, blue skirt, though the skirt is a little shorter than Juuban standard. She has a free sample in one hand (dark chocolate) and a twelve-pack in her backpack to bring home, seeing as she eats the stuff for breakfast anyway.

She appears particularly curious about the dancer, who she watched with interest, and now the Amazing Umbrali. What could one man need so many boxes for?

Kyouko Sakura is in her civilian clothing, which is to say a light green hoodie half-zipped over a black tank top, and cutoff shorts. She's eating a thing of this 'Black Sea Yogurt' right now since it has been on special ever since the initial announcement, and it's kinda tasty. On the scale of junk food that Kyouko normally eats anyway.

She pauses around the edges of the forming crowd, eventually moving to boost herself onto the step of a closed storefront so she can see the dancer a little better, spoon hanging out of her mouth as she tosses one empty yogurt container vaguely in the direction of a trashcan, and digs a suspicious bulge out of the pocket of her sweatshirt--it proves to be a second, entirely different flavor of Black Sea Yogurst. Apparently marketing, or at least shoplifting, works.

Sakura Akagi is much too shy to participate in such an activity, and if she is, then of course Madobe likely is as well. But she does want to see what all the spectacle is about. Maybe some day she'll really get brave enough to do something like this... well, Japanese Cherry Blossom is much braver than she is normally, she thinks. For now however she's rather quiet, adding to the general confusion of people who have similar names here and trying to blend into the crowd.

Despite a request by Rei Fushigiyo for one or both of her parents to be here, the realities of work schedules means that she's here alone.

Bummer.

She is here, though, milling about in the spokesperson waiting area, huge anime waterfall tears running down her face, which she is morosely shovelng Black Sea yogurt into. "I dinn' know theh wah go'a be a 'alen' 'on'es'," she moans, through mouthfuls of yogurt.

She's also, at least as far as she's concerned now, very underdressed, wearing only a knee-length skirt and a bright green, baggy shirt, the front of which bears in huge English letters 'NEVER GIVE UP', over which is plastered an illustration of some totally ripped white dude in khaki shorts. The back of the shirt equally helpfully sports a letter 'U', a letter 'C' with a red circle-and-line through it, and the word 'ME.'

The farther the Amazing Umbrali gets into his performance, the more anxious Rei becomes; before long, she's out of yogurt to stress-eat, and is reduced to nervously chewing on her plastic spoon and continuing to cry waterfall tears.

HALF AN HOUR AGO

Usagi Tsukino looks at herself in the mirror, concerned with what she's about to do. Even Tokiko, whom she wasn't involved with on any sort of magical girl level, told her that the yogurt had some evil magic draining properties. She had eaten /so much/ of it not too long ago, and act of gluttony that she now felt very stupid for.

With a sigh, she asked, "Usagi... what are you getting yourself into?" She walked over to her bed and flops onto it, giving a whine. "It's going to be dangerous... I don't wanna go...!" For a moment, she lies there, tempted to just go to sleep. Somehow, she just couldn't... She just couldn't leave it alone, no matter how dangerous it might turn out to be.

At least she had her trusty disguise pen. It'd keep her at least somewhat safe, if things went south...

NOW

A tall, mature, lovely woman who is totally not Usagi walks onto the stage. Apparently her name is Sona Masinko, and she is totally not Usagi. She had more than the requisite number of proofs of purchases, by... quite a bit, and she is totally not Usagi. She strides onto the stage gracefully and takes the mic in hand, and she is totally not Usagi.

Okay maybe she's actually Usagi using the disguise pen, but shhh! That's a secret!

She takes the mic and jumps up and down, almost too childlike for such a mature-looking woman, and she gives the crowd a big wave. "Hello~ everyone! My name is Sona Masinko and I'd like to be the spokesperson for Black Sea Yogurt! I'm a big fan of it and I eat it all the time!" Well she used to, anyways, "I even ate it instead of breakfast a couple times! Especially when I woke up too late and had to leave the house in a hurry..." She laughs awkwardly.

Now convinced that she's blowing it, she looks over the crowd and doesn't show a hint of her nervousness. Instead she gives the crowd a V-sign and shouts, "Pick ME as your spokesperson, and I'll give Black Sea Yogurt the image it deserves!"

She may actually try to make good on that last line, but she doesn't betray her true intentions just yet. She secretly hopes that Rei is here, somewhere in the background.

Sakura Kinomoto makes appreciative noises as the ladies start coming out. They look so sophisticated! She applauds politely for 'Sona' and looks around. She has time to stick around and watch this, she thinks.

One of the women at the stand leans forwards, glamorously. "Ohhh, aren't you adorable?" she says to Sakura K. "Here, have a free sample!": And so one is extended to her. The other looks towards the small stack and notes a missing twelve pack.

The two of them share a meaningful glance.

Then they slip off, as if they're on break. The spangled dancer lady goes in the same direction of them. Probably this means nothing. They vanish behind some curtains.

Kyouko may feel a gurgle in her stomach. Probably just the usual all-consuming void.

COMBAT: Rei Hino transforms into Sailor Mars!

Sakura Kinomoto smiles! "Why thank you! It looks delicious!" She opens it up and has a taste, then starts eating. Suzu Hamasaki wasn't going to count up her proofs of purchase. She's probably happier not knowing the total.

Usagi might be surprised to see someone in the audience who she might recognize: Suzu, from her class, who is absolutely not a magical girl in any way. Suzu is currently looking for a place to ditch her own empty sample container and managed to wander most of the way to the proper stage to see it. The disguise pen definitely works on her, though, given she doesn't see anything weird about Sona being on stage.

Well, that was easier than she expected, Suzu thinks. Maybe she /should/ have given a speech. She eats it for breakfast too and if that's the only requirement...

The Amazing Umbrali finally gets his boxes set up, then steps forward silently, holding his hands up. It appears he is the kind of magician that doesn't really do 'patter' so much as just the show. He makes a show of displaying his sleeves as empty, then takes off his hat and shows that to be empty, too. He holds up one finger, then holds his other hand out, palm up.

Then, the Great Umbrali (whose sign certainly does not have the world 'umbrella' crossed out a few times, or misspelled at least once, nope, nope, nope) tap his open palm with the finger. Smoke explodes from his palm, briefly obscuring his hand and upper body. When it clears, he's holding a bouquet of flowers, held together by a ribbon that has on the end a coupon for free yogurt. He holds the bouquet up, then throws it grandly into the crowd. Rei Hino, as Usagi wondered, is not in the audience. No, in her stead, its the Senshi of Fire is hiding nearby. The purple eyes scan the audience warrily, considering hte situation. Usagi is putting herself in the line of fire after all, and quite knowingly. Despite the squabbling they have, she's not about to let her friend in danger alone either.

But she's anticipating what's going to happen to, by hiding there, already transformed. This definitely smells like a trap, and there's nothing to do for it until its sprung either. At least Usagi is showing ONE of her (few) talents there, which is what she outlined before. Being disguised makes her roughly 90% less clumsy it seems. Something about confidence when she's disguised. Its not a bad thing either. It can be used here at least.

And that's why its Mars that is hiding in the shadows, instead of being on the stage. Well Usagi has the disguise pen too. Its a plus.

Kyouko watches as the performers start coming out, and peels off the top of her new yogurt, inhaling its creamy scent as the music and presentations begin. She is about to dip her spoon into the unbroken surface when her stomach starts to rumble a little. She makes a face, and dips the spoon into the yogurt cup as she presses a hand over her stomach for a moment. Surely this will pass. She's eaten far worse.

She holds off on eating for a moment to simply observe, trying to fix her face back into its usual cynical detachment. Why would anyone want to be a spokesperson for stupid yogurt anyway? Is that what they want to remember in twenty years?

Her sour-grapes musing is interrupted as The Great Umbrali holds up a coupon for free yogurt, and her attention is at least partially diverted from gastronomical woes. She can't really scramble into the masses to chase it though, alas.

COMBAT: Makoto Kino transforms into Sailor Jupiter!

Tomomi looks up as she sees 'Sona' starting to bounce around and act the fool. She does not seem impressed. She lifts up her iPhone and sends a smart-aleck tweet. That'll show her. This is how you achieve victory in life, through smart-aleck social media commentary!

Tomomi goes back to watching the magic show afterward. That guy is setting up boxes. Okay? She starts imagining the scene from 'The Prestige' with the dove.

Tomomi puts up her best glittery smile. That dove /did/ disappear in a Platonic sense. Alternately, she very much enjoys magic shows. She does not go for the bouquet -- the colors clash with her top.

Madobe actually doesn't have any special interest in yogurt herself. That's not why she sent in her yogurt slips and was told to go on stage and make a pitch and all that. No, she just thought 'hey maybe people will like me if I'm a yogurt spokesperson'. She did not, notably, actually think about what to say when she got on stage or what to do when she got there. She also has not actually eaten any of the yogurt because she was too nervous to eat it and by the time she worked up the courage, the yogurt 'vanished'. Her brother says he didn't eat it himself, but she knows better! Her brother is SO WEIRD.

So she's backstage, trying to hype herself up. She has managed to make it this far by communicating through nods and nervous swallows. She watches the various acts that go before her, most notably the amazing umbrali, and starts sweating nervously as her time to go up. Maybe she can cheat by using her perfume so she doesn't get nervous and DIE.

She gets called for her turn and walks out onto the stage.

She stares ahead. The audience politely waits.

She continues to stare ahead. Some members in the audience cough awkwardly.

She stares ahead. The audience starts whispering, wondering what's going on.

Eventually she stammers out, "I..."

.... .... ....

"I got lost on the way to the bathroom, sorry!"

And she runs back off stage. THIS IS ALL HER BROTHER'S FAULT, she thinks, IF SHE HAD EATEN THAT YOGURT SHE WOULD HAVE KNOWN WHAT TO DO!

Makoto is also not in the audience. The Senshi of Lightning is currently hiding with Rei, watching the stage as Usagi speaks. She sighs to herself, feeling the sweatdrop roll down her face. "I don't think anyone is buying it..." She whispers to Rei, sighing to punctuate her point.

Still, Usagi was the on brave enough to put herself in danger for this so that counts for something. Still, she hopes nothing bad happens to Usagi because she wandered into a trap.

Currently transformed, Sailor Jupiter waits from an undisclosed hiding spot, crossing her arms. This was no doubt going to be ending bad.

Sakura Akagi on the other hand is entirely impressed with the potential spokesmodel. It would really be something to be so brave as to get up on that stage! Maybe someday she'll really have the nerve. She looks a little entranced by the proceedings.

She's really surprised that Madobe volunteered. Didn't she hate this kind of thing? Was it really perfume power that gave her the nerve? Despite her... bombing, so to speak... Sakura claps politely for her friend.

And then suddenly Usagi- I MEAN Sona remembers that she needs a talent. Oh wow, this is awkward. She completely forgot to prepare anything! Her mind races as she tries to think of something. "As for my talent... um..."

She twirls around, displaying her outfit. It's a cute outfit: a skirt and a shirt, pink and white. Somehow, miraculously, she is walking on high-heels and she has cute ribbons in her hair. "As for my talent, I designed this outfit! I hope you all like it!"

Well technically that's true. In a way. It was the best she could come up with at the moment.

Tomomi writes another sassy tweet.

Usagi Tsukino is oblivious to tweeting! For now. To the surprise of no one.

Sakura Kinomoto applauds some more, having finished her yogurt. It was good!

Rei Fushigiyo /was/ supposed to go second; each time she's told to go on, though, she responds by going totally limp, and they push her back again.

Eventually, though, everyone but her is gone, and she's told in no uncertain terms that she needs to either go out on stage or forfeit and leave.

And so, entire body trembling with anxiety, Rei stumbles out onto the stage and up to the microphone stand; she has to adjust it to her height, which she totally fails to figure out how to do until a stagehand hustles out, crouched low, and helps her change the height.

It doesn't stop being awkward there, thouh!

Now both trembling, sweating, /and/ bright red, Rei busies her hands pulling at and twisting one of her long pink twintails as she speaks into the microphone. "I-I'm, um, Rei Fushigiyo-chan," she introduces herself, voice uncharacteristically meek. "I eat Black Sea yogurt every day with lunch; it's really helpful 'cuz my mom can't make my lunches anymore ever since her shift got changed, so I have to make them by myself, but my parents don't really like me to use the stove anymore ever since that time I tried to make an instant cup noodle on one and it caught on fire and--"

Rei realizes she's both rambling and oversharing, catches herself, and waves a hand dismissively, stammering, "J-just kidding, just kidding!" There's a brief stretch of awkward silence, and then she continues, "Um, I want to be the Black Sea spokesperson 'cuz Black Sea yogurt is perfect for people who lead active lifestyles and aren't allowed to use the stove anymore. ... I think. So... pick me, please!"

She bows, abruptly and too deeply, and almost knocks over the microphone stand, which she has to grab to keep from toppling over. She starts to back away, and then stops and looks off to stage left for a second. What's that persont trying t--OH GOD A TALENT RIGHT.

Sheepishly, Rei returns to the microphone, and begins, "Well, um... I didn't know there was going to be a talent part, so I didn't really prepare anything..." She glances back to stage left, desperate for some sort of lifeline, and then looks to stage right, and then finally down at herself. ... well... maybe if...

Voice shaky, Rei leans in closer to the microphone, clears her throat, and begins to...

... clumsily... rap...? In... broken English???

  o/` In case you forgot or feru ofu I'm stiru hot; knock yoru sheru off o/`   
        o/` My money stack fat prus I can't turn the sweru off... o/`          

IT'S NOT GREAT.

The man in the Mongol suit claps energetically for Sona. "What a beauty!" he declares.

Madobe comes up. The man in the Mongol suit says nothing, although those who can see his face from the front row might see his lips form a single, growling, two syllable word under his breath. That word... may be 'Moe.'

He looks towards the opposing stage, then, making an arcane hand gesture. The Amazing Umbrali, hopefully, sees it coming. He then says warmly, "Let's give her a big hand -"

The air is briefly filled by several people of no importance, and then Rei Fushigiyo. The man in the Mongol suit looks visibly pained at her story, especially the part about the stove. He makes another high sign towards the Amazing Umbrali and starts stepping away as Rei Fushigiyo unleashes her unduly dope rhymes.

By the time she's in the second line, he is gone from sight. A horrible thing occurs.

The stack of yogurt cups starts to jiggle around. The singles pop around, dancing about for no clear reason, in approximate rhythm with Rei's beats. Then one by one, they start to pop - their foil tops rising upwards, then rupturing, as several ounces of yogurt each erupt into the air. THey land on the ground, bouncing around and forming several different streaks of goop, swirling around the area and brushing slimily against legs, evoking screams and outcries of shock and surprise.

They flow together, growing denser. One of them swirls past the high perch which contains, all concealed, the form of Sailor Mars - and starts it tottering violently. Several more knock over those stylish dividers, providing a network of temporarily hidden spots as they flow into four steady rivers. Something forms behind Rei, growing upwards - rising, indeed, to a size comparable to a certain Mr. The Giant, all the shades of blue and violet swirling together. A wide-hipped shape, a shape with black goo for eyes and lips, a disklike flare at the waist!

The creature steps forwards, snatching the mike away from Rei and hip-checking her out of the camera's frame. She extends a pinky finger as the mike is raised to her lips. "Hwaaaaa-- Hello, everyone!~ This is Kefirin-tama, and I am the real Black Sea Yogurt spokesmodel. Because unlike everyone else, I'm MADE of-"

She pauses, and looks at her free hand. It wiggles. "Huuuh... Is some of it -"

There is a horrible squelching noise from the immediate area of Kyouko Sakura. Approximately 3kg of mixed flavors of yogurt fly through the air, glopping onto the extended hand and fractionally increasing the creature's bulk.

"THERE it is!! AHEM: This is my BIG DEBUT! Now everyone just hold still - while I show you all my talent!"

The creature breaks out into a surprisingly credible enka song.

It may be time to change.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl transforms into Youma Form Kefirin!

As the rap begins, the magic show comes to a creaking halt. The Amazing Umbrali just kind of turns to stare at that. He does, however, notice the hand gesture. He raises his hand once more, after noticing it. A purple circle appears beneath him - great special effects there! Black flame explodes from the circle, and a deep, booming voice speaks from the fire, which has utterly obscured the Amazing Umbrali.

"From the darkness of the void, behold!"

The black flame explodes upwards, revealing a man (well, probably) in a massive suit of armor - easily eight feet tall. One claw-pointed gauntlet is held aloft, dramatically. "STAR LION!"

The Star Lion sweeps his cape back dramatically, striding off the magician's stage and soaking in the sudden shift in attitudes.

COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki transforms into Seafoam Suzu!

Suzu Hamasaki feels vaguely bad for Rei. Suzu knows who /she/ is, too - they're in the same class, and unlike Usagi, she's not in disguise. Pen. Disguise pen. Maybe she should share lunch with Rei sometime or something.

The goodwill vanishes when she starts to rap, though. Suzu cannot, in all good concience, class that as 'music'. Ow.

Suzu shifts her backpack anxiously as Rei raps. And then she shifts it again as something moves inside - because the twelve-pack of yogurt she bought is leaking, oozing out and through the zipper, joining the trail that leads to the giant yogurt thing claiming to be the real spokesperson.

Which is singing. Suzu throws herself under a currently unused stage, squeezing in through the fabric that tends to be placed in front of the temporary raised platform. Thus hiding, she removes her star-shaped hairclip, trying to pass it over her body despite the limited room to maneuver. It seems to be enough; her clothes turn into ribbons of light, reshaping themselves, forming the decidedly different outfit of Seafoam Suzu!

Who squeezes out from under the stage. Clearly there's no similarities there. Plus, she's probably not the only person trying to hide. "Stop right there!" she says, vaulting up onto her stage - before immediately taking a single huge breath and beginning to sing herself, trying to drown out the enka with sheer volume, a pleasant melody that doesn't have any words but nonetheless carries cheerfully, glitter like pleasant mist forming around her.

For most people, anyway. The youma might find it downright unpleasant, and almost exhausting to listen to!

COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has used Siren Song on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl narrowly braces Suzu Hamasaki's Siren Song, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Queen Beryl's Parry ability activates!

Tomomi tries to ignore the 'talent show', but it's getting increasingly difficult to tune out all of the awkwardness and failure. She turns and stares at Rei for a long moment. The rap is the last straw. She wordlessly opens her browser, does a quick YouTube search, and embeds Colonel Kurtz' monologue into whatever she's tweeting. The horror. The /horror/.

By comparison, the exploding yogurt is much more pleasant. As the evil yogurt starts to slime people, Tomomi does what comes naturally.

Tomomi lifts up her camera and starts taking pictures of the forming youma as she backpedals. She works into a clattering trot as the sinister Star Lion appears. This is not /her/ energy gathering scheme, but perhaps she can gather some intelligence along the way. She runs for cover, looking for a shady spot to hide.

And here it is. The moment that 'Sona' was waiting for. The appearance of the yogurt youma surprises her, and she starts to slowly back away. Her eyes finally locate Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter, and the knowledge that her friends are nearby fills her with a confidence that she wouldn't already have.

'Sona' hides behind the stage, producing a transformation brooch and holding it up to the sky. She loudly yells, "MOON PRISM POWER... MAKE UP!" as her hand passes over the brooch.

Her sillouette becomes a chaotic gathering of light and sparkles, and red ribbons magically appear to wrap around her. Boots, skirt, gloves, bows and all sorts of adornments form on her, and it isn't long at all before this 'Sona' has transformed into Sailor Moon!

"Stop right there!" Sailor Moon exclaims, pointing her finger at the Yogurt youma. "Taking advantage of busy people who just want a quick snack? Unforgivable!"

COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino transforms into Sailor Moon!

Yeaaaghhh. Not only did all the piles of yogurt on promotional display come to life, it /escaped/. From her. Kyouko. Food is not supposed to escape. Or resist. This is in fact a violation of like dozens of international treaties, it has to be. But then, what else should she expect from a hostile world? Even food is out to get her now.

All of that time spent philosophizing is roughly as long as it takes her get up from where she fell to her hands and knees, pulling her Soul Gem out of her other pocket as she does. Now, her anger is rising, and she gives a fangy grimace and an angry growl as ribbons flash and light strobes, largely unnoticed among the assorted other stampeding and monsters. The transformation is largely cosmetic, but now Kyouko has a spear and public deniability.

She leaps with casual agility onto the top of a bus stop near the stage and begins hurling spears at the yogurt beast. "That was super-gross! You're wasting food! You are wasted food! I'll destroy you!" Each sentence is accompanied by another hurled weapon, additional projectiles sliding from the long sleeves of battle outfit as she shouts her rage youma-wards.

COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura has used A Healthy Diet of Javelins on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl narrowly braces Kyouko Sakura's A Healthy Diet of Javelins, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Queen Beryl's Parry ability activates!

Uh-oh, this... is clearly bad. Sakura Akagi didn't smell this particular thing about to happen, since... this youma clearly was different from the sort she usually fights.

She takes a breath. The fight with the Unknown Enemy wasn't too long ago, and it had taken a lot of magic power to stop it. But this situation looks rough too. At least once again a team will be here - in addition to Sweet Pea there's other Magical Girls in the area.

...And Star Lion here too?

There's no way she can hold out longer, even though she's not yet aware of Tomomi here. Time for her to join in and transform.

She runs first to a secluded spot in the backstage area, hopping up over people as if she's merely desperate to get away. When the coast is clear, she pulls out her henshin perfume.

"Henshin! Cherry Blossom! Splash!"

There is a short form of her henshin sequence - perfume spraying toward her in a downward angle, forming a dress, then spraying toward her hair where it changes from dark, to pink. Teardrop earrings appear, followed at last by the flower clip that holds her hair in place.

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi transforms into Japanese Cherry Blossom!

Sailor Mars had the feeling something wrong was going to happen. That's the thing about being a fortune teller of some sort anyway, even if you can't tell precisely what it will be, you can still sense it before it shows up. But that still makes it hard to plan on the 'how' all part.

And in this case, its a yogurt man.

Don't think anyone would have been able to predict that one.

And before it attempts to make a meal out of Usagi, she needs to give her enough time to move away and change as well. Yeah, they kinda need Sailor Moon's power after all. Suddenly, its like a spotlight appears right on cue, pointed at Mars standing on the stage, as if appearing out of nowhere "Stop right there! The true stars will shine by their talents and presence! You are unfit to be anything else than a sidedish for a lunch break! Leave the stage to the ones that really shine!"

She's trying to divert the attention of it for Usagi to scurry off. She turns slightly to the side, whispering yet too loud to be really discreet, obviously on purpose here "And you're singing sucks too."

Moe?! Madobe doesn't hear, but she'd be deeply ashamed. OR WOULD SHE? People like moe, yeah?

Madobe is hiding in the bathroom. She hears screaming and stuff but finds it hard to care. She thought she saw Sakura out there. She wants to die.

She sniffs a few times, detecting the scent--of Cherry Blossoms?

Oh no, she thinks, they're not just screaming because they were terrified of her horribleness, there may be actual danger.

She takes her perfume bottle out and says, "Never again... will I try the stage! But Sweet Pea can do it!"

She has an amazing bathroom henshin sequence.

And then she busts out, trailing some toilet paper stuck to her foot. "Yogurt monster--" she begins, trails off, and then say, "Your days are numbered...!"

She points towards Usagi. "Sailor V's understudy is here to stop you! You can do it!!"

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has used Go Hero Protaganist on Usagi Tsukino.

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino accepts Madobe Kuroi's Go Hero Protaganist, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Usagi Tsukino is Cheered! Suzu Hamasaki

It's the magical girl, Seafoam Suzu!

Seafoam Suzu doesn't look all that much different than Suzu, really, at least in general. She's about five foot four, give or take a half inch that appears to be mostly hair, and looks to be about fourteen or fifteen years old. Suzu's hair is a sandy blonde, and rather expansive; it's almost waist-length on her, in rather voluminous layers, and sort of artfully unstyled around her face. It has been pinned back with what looks like a red stone hairpin shaped like a pair of stars just over her left temple.

There are some differences, though. Suzu doesn't appear to have ears anymore. Instead she has blue-violet frills, or fins; they poke out of her hair, long enough to be seen without much effort. Sometimes she also has a faint glittery iridescence near her waist or hips, as if just barely-invisible scales were present.

Seafoam Suzu is wearing a decidedly aquatic-themed outfit. Her chest is covered by a mermaid-traditional 'shell bra'; hers are abalone shell-styled cups, highly iridescent and shimmering in the light. Over this she wears a vaguely translucent open, sleeveless vest in an aqua blue, edged with white seafoam-styled puffs around the shoulders. Though the vest itself is sleeveless, she has sleeves anyway; a red coral ring goes around each bicep and they start there, reaching to her wrists, where they end in another puff of seafoam white. Her lower body is covered by something that looks more sarong-like than anything else, about mid-thigh on her left but stretching past her knee on the right. It starts a rich blue, almost blue-purple, near her waist, but changes colour further down, shading to aqua blue by her right knee.

Seafoam Suzu does not wear shoes. Her footprints are always damp.

o/` The furanchisu doin' bigu bidunesu I live this ... o/` Rei's fat rhymes gradually slow, as the God damn yogurt comes to God damn life and starts coalescing.

o/` It's automatic I win... this... oh you hear... those... horns... o/`

By the end, Rei is wide-eyed, her face a ridiculous anime mask of horror, slowly turning to face the giant yogurt monster. "M-m-mon-m-mo-m-mon-mon-m-" Rei stammers--

-- and then she gets hipchecked and goes flying off the stage, landing in a pile of speakers with a crash.

Within the pile, Rei shakes her head vigorously to clear the shock of a yogurt monster - and the embarrassment and anxiety of her performance - and then hardens her expression and her heart and...

... pulls up her shirt???

Luckily, it isn't to earn beads, but rather to expose the belt she's wearing in her skirt, and the large, golden oval belt buckle, emblazoned with an image of the Earth, she wears on it.

Rei takes a deep breath, grips the buckle, and rips it off to lift it overhead, and OH SHIT SON TRANSFORMATION SEQUEEEENCE

"DIVAAA FAAACE TUUUUURN!!"

o/` Kaware! o/` o/` Kami ni nare~e~ o/`

The yogurt monster gets to sing about four lines before deafening music suddenly overrides it, erupting from every surface on and around the stage like they were giant speakers. As the chorus of singers drag out the final syllable, and the music busts out a wicked drum breakdown, an enormous pillar of red sparks erupts out of the ground in front of the stage; a heartbeat later, two more spark pillars erupt a bit farther out, these ones orange. Two more follow, then two more, et cetera, et cetera. By the time the fireworks display has concluded, in rapid succession, it looks a lot like this when viewed from above:

                        *                           *

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                                *           *

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Meanwhile, in the pile of actual speakers, Rei Fushigiyo's shirt tears in half, the center of the chest bursting open and the tear spreading up and down until the garment is destroyed. Underneath, her body has transformed into a brilliant shine of rainbow light, as she lifts into the air(???) or spins around in sparkle space(???) or something(???), who even knows what's going on here.

With a distinct pop of motion, the rainbow light covering Rei's body coalesces into her two-piece wrestling leotard; at the same time, the belt buckle held above her head flashes with rainbow light and swells in size, growing into the full-fledged, gold-and-leather Earth Championship.

And then the speaker pile erupts outwards as Diva Heart bursts from it, Earth Championship held high above her head. "DIVA HEART," she cries, pounding her free fist agaist her chest. "RRREADY TO RRRUMMMMMBLEEEEE~!!"

She doesn't miss a beat, however; as soon as the words have left her mouth, she tosses her belt to the side and charges back across the stage. As she runs, she thrusts her left arm out; she hooks it around the yogurt youma's waist and spins around it to wrap both of her arms around the monster from behind, as if embracing it. Aww, how sweet, she's going to defeat it with hugs and love!

And then, with a guttural shriek, Diva Heart lifts the monster off of the stage and over her head, falling backwards to slam the thing's head and shoulders into the ground behind her.

COMBAT: Rei Fushigiyo transforms into Diva Heart!

COMBAT: Rei Fushigiyo has used German Suplex on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Rei Fushigiyo has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl fails to brace Rei Fushigiyo's German Suplex, taking 20 Fatigue damage!

Kefirin glares at Suzu as she takes the stage, but instead of immediately administering a counterattack, attempts to overwhelm her by singing louder, more passionately. This, of course, is not exactly in perfect accord with the spirit of Enka music, but by gad she tries. A speaker blows out, painfully.

Then another.

The youma drops the mike with great force. "You ruined my big debut, you stage hog! Why don't you go hurt someone else's -" A javelin is thrown through the creature's face at this point, with a huge 'splurp'. "Someone else's -" splurp.

"QUIT IT!!" Kefirin squeals at Kyouko, before stomping the stage - hard enough to make everything and everyone on it jump. "I'm not going t-" And then, Sailor Moon.

The Youma's face scowls as it looks at her, before it raises one hand to her mouth. "Busy people who want a quick snack? Kefififififi, you're just glad to put your time and your money into low effort, low reward things! It's fine by me, if all of you MUFFIN TOPS-" Her arms swing out, as if to encompass the enemy. This probably includes Sailor Mars. "want to try and hem in your waistlines. It just means more for meeeee~~!"

Kefirin raises her hands up, her bodyshaming words having near palpable force! In the mean time she pries the javelins loose from her head and shoulders, whipping one arm outwards as the improvised fork is held. Her goal is to scoop up one magical girl. "Wahhh--" Her mouth suddenly gapes, like some sort of deep-sea fish, as the ranged bescooping begins.

The youma seems to be able to speak, even with its mouth occupied - and that's horrible. "Oii, Lion-kuuuun, hit them while they're looking at Kefirin!" she calls out, "helpfully," to the towering man. "We can get 'em from both siiides!"

At this point Diva Heart stages her run-in, hoisting a truly outrageous quantity of yogurt up and slamming it into the stage. The youma splatters everywhere, in a sour-fragrant spray of many (dark) colors! Well, that was quick.

No it wasn't. Kefirin begins reconstituting, towards the bus-stop perch of Kyouko. "Kefifififi! Your submission techniques can't work on me, Wrestle Girl!"

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has used Absorbing Your Body Image Issues on Usagi Tsukino.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has used Absorbing Your Body Image Issues on Sailor Mars.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has used Absorbing Your Body Image Issues on Suzu Hamasaki.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has used This Attack Represents An Ironic Demise For Kyouko Sakura on Kyouko Sakura.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has used Yogurt Just Getting Everywhere Eww on Rei Fushigiyo.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki fails to dodge Queen Beryl's Absorbing Your Body Image Issues, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Queen Beryl is Psyched!

COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino fails to dodge Queen Beryl's Absorbing Your Body Image Issues, taking 10 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Rei Fushigiyo narrowly dodges Queen Beryl's Yogurt Just Getting Everywhere Eww, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Tangle applied to Rei Fushigiyo!

COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura narrowly counters Queen Beryl's This Attack Represents An Ironic Demise For Kyouko Sakura, taking 3 Mana damage! Queen Beryl drains 2 mana from Kyouko Sakura!

COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura's counterattack, Chain Barrier, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Queen Beryl!

"U-understudy?!" exclaims Sailor Moon. "W-well. I mean... not that I /wouldn't/ but I mean I don't really know h-... oh never mind!" The thought of being Sailor V's understudy makes her happy, but she doesn't really have time to dwell on it that much!

Especially since Kefirin is trying to absorb her! Moon tries to move out of the way of the Youma's long, large yogurty arms, but she's caught in them! As the gooey tasty substance draws her closer to the enemy youma, she shouts, "Y-you can't do this! I'm the-- ew--- Sailor Soilder of Love and Justice, Sailor Moon! And in the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!"

COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino has used In The Name Of The Moon on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino has finished attacking.

[OOC] Usagi Tsukino sorry for shortpose but I have to idle a bit.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl accepts Usagi Tsukino's In The Name Of The Moon, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Cripple and Diversion applied to Queen Beryl!

The Star Lion gazes on as most of the girls present go after the yogurt monster. He turns away, his cape spreading dramatically as he does. "Very well..." He raises a fist. "While they face off against the mighty Kefirin, /I/ will take on the greater foes! For I have sworn upon my honor to support the warrior Kefirin and the might of the Black Sea's magic!" This is complete bullshit, but quite a lot of what the Star Lion rants about is.

He spreads his hands, laughing. "Now then! Sweet Pea! Cherry Blossom! I will be your foe today! You stand no chance at defeating me, even with your power!" He stands there laughing, then points at Cherry Blossom. "You! I have seen the strength of the Sweet Pea, and it is considerable! But you - can you match her? SHOW ME YOUR POWER!"

He draws his sword, planting the tip in the ground and beckoning, then posing dramatically.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars perfectly dodges Queen Beryl's Absorbing Your Body Image Issues, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge! Sailor Mars's Fade ability activates! Sailor Mars's Flash ability activates!

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has used I'm Calling You Out on Sakura Akagi.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has used Lion's Roar on Yoshirou Kurotsuki.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki accepts Yoshirou Kurotsuki's Lion's Roar, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Empower and Withstand applied to Yoshirou Kurotsuki!

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi narrowly braces Yoshirou Kurotsuki's I'm Calling You Out, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

Magical girl transformation sequences explode all around Tomomi. She drops out of sight of them, covering her head like any other civilian. The overwhelming scent of sorcerous power makes her heart race. This is a magnificent display of power. All of it is amazing. What luck to have stumbled onto this!

Tomomi switches from her iPhone to her Moleskine via her little, improbable purse. She starts writing down notes, studying the sorcerous threads of power moving through the battle. The individual girls are irrelevant -- this is about scouting the competition.

Well, somewhat. Tomomi's eyes narrow at Japanese Cherry Blossom and Sweet Pea. Were the odds not so terrible... if she had only prepared a youma... she clenches her fist in impotent fury before returning to her note-taking. Pay no mind to the woman hiding in the background.

Kyouko yells angrily as she tries to dodge the sudden fork-lifting towards the yogurt-monster's mouth. She is catapaulted towards a squelchy and unpleasant doom, but throws up her hands at the last moment--a webwork of chains appear in the air, blocking the creature's mouth for just long enough. She rebounds off them like a particularly angry raquetball and falls to the ground, rolling back to her feet.

She comes upright and shakes herself a bit, shrugging off the jibblies of near-devouring by her recently-favorite snack food, now /betrayer/. Her spear is in her hands again, having found its way back from wherever it goes, and she rushes forward, the spear growing and lengthening, sharp edge glinting as she charges the beast on the ground. "I won't let you eat anyone! This is not how food works!" She's aware that there's a dark-armored lion-man lurking about too, and in fact the roaring got a moment of her attention, but he hasn't personally offended her today. COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura has used Piker on Queen Beryl. COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura has finished attacking.

Japanese Cherry Blossom hears the callout from Sailor Moon! She looks over toward her, and... hopefully is not too distracting. "Ah! Sailor Moon! I saw your message! It's good to--"

Oh, right, she hadn't forgotten about Star Lion, either.

She turns her head around as he yells her name... yes, responding to 'Cherry Blossom' has already become second nature. It was what they used to call her...

She gives Sailor Moon a quick bow. "Sorry - I guess I must go. Good luck..."

She turns and dashes toward Star Lion, pulled away to fight alongside Sweet Pea.

She looks at her friend. "Now, shall we? Let's give it our all. You take left, I'll take right."

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has used Battle Strategy on Madobe Kuroi.

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl perfectly dodges Kyouko Sakura's Piker, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge!

Suzu Hamasaki's song comes to a pretty quick end, apparently, because she didn't have one planned for an extended performance, and she needs to catch her breath. It only takes a moment, but the monster uses that time -

To make fun of her?

Suzu looks down. Her stomach is actually bare in this form and she's not entirely sure why the youma, Kefirin, is making fun of her waistline; it feels fine to her, though it's not like she's looking in a mirror. She sucks it in anyway, a pretty much completely unnecessary gesture. You can't be too careful!

Suzu shoots a glance sideways, at Star Lion, but she has a yogurt monster to defeat! The impression of water around her gets stronger as she focuses, forming something in her hand, before throwing a cluster of foamy bubbles at the monster's legs, each with a tiny drop of glittering starlight trapped inside! Until they pop, anyway.

Fun fact: It's hard to talk much when you're sucking in your gut, even when it doesn't need it.

COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has used Bubble Mist on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl fails to dodge Suzu Hamasaki's Bubble Mist, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Tangle applied to Queen Beryl!

Sailor Moon wears a skirt, Sailor V wears a skirt! They're both blonde! IT IS AN UNDERSTANDABLE MISTAKE. Either way, Sweet Pea pays no mind to the woman hiding in the background. When there's yogurt monsters and super necromancers around, 'person with a cellphone' tends to escape notice. Madobe has used this to great effect before herself!

"B...but last time you kicked my patooty!" She stammers. Why is this guy so nice for someone who shoots her with lasers?!

"Arggh... This day was horrible...so I accept your challenge!"

Sniffle.

She nods towards Sakura. "Got it!" And she throws herself to the--left! YES! SHE DIDN'T GET HER RIGHT AND LEFT CONFUSED! YEAAAAH!

She jogs, firing pink lasers. "Wait... Why are you here? Do yogurts grant wishes?! And don't insult our friends in that kind of roundabout way even if it's kind of flattering!" This guy is so confusing.

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi accepts Sakura Akagi's Battle Strategy, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Madobe Kuroi is Cheered!

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has used Sweet Pea Strike on Yoshirou Kurotsuki.

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki narrowly braces Madobe Kuroi's Sweet Pea Strike, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Madobe Kuroi is Psyched! Yoshirou Kurotsuki's Parry ability activates!

The yogurt monster explodes. Diva Heart isn't crazy about this, because it means she's covered in yogurt, and that's gross. I mean, kind of delicious, but gross.

The diva rolls onto her front and scrambles to her feet, turning to watch the yogurt reconstitute in Kyoko's direction. That makes it even /less/ okay. She grimaces to herself, and while she considers what to do, absent-mindedly lifts her hand and the splotch of yogurt on it and licks it off.

After a beat, she realizes what she just did and spits the remnants out of her mouth, with a cry of, "Ah, gross!!"

Another beat, and she licks her hand again.

She never gets around to being grossed out about it this time, though; instead, she turns to glance over her shoulder, looks back at the reconstituting yogurt monster once more, and then turns and charges towards the back of the stage.

After about four steps, she turns in mid-step, and in her path appears a trio of taut ring ropes made out of rainbow light that stretch in either direction for a few feet and then vanish into a haze of softer light.

The Diva hits them back-first, the already taut ropes stretching backwards and then snapping Diva Heart back forwards, slingshotting her back towards the front of the stage at a full sprint.

She sprints, in fact, all the way to the edge of the stage, and then plants her foot and leaps, soaring through the air towards Kefirin like a human torpedo.

There appears to be no second part to this attack, judging by how at no point does Diva Heart adjust to do anything but slam into the yogurt monster upper-body first.

COMBAT: Rei Fushigiyo has used Suicide Dive on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Rei Fushigiyo has finished attacking.

"I felt the strength within you! While I won, of course, I always acknowledge power!" The Star Lion raises his gauntlet, batting the lasers aside with a quick thrust. Well, mostly. Partially, anyway. He grunts. "Even with your tactical might, I cannot lose! For I am the Star Lion! There may be no wishes here, but I swore to support my ally! The Star Lion never breaks an oath!"

He gestures grandly, and darkness flares in the palms of his gauntlets. "Now - behold! The power of the void! Two directions do not matter! Two foes do not matter, no matter how strong! For nothing can escape the void! See this truth!" The dark power flares, and two blasts of darkness fly out - one for Sweet Pea, the other for Cherry Blossom!

"BLACK HOLE!"

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has used Black Hole on Madobe Kuroi.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has used Black Hole on Sakura Akagi.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl narrowly braces Rei Fushigiyo's Suicide Dive, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Queen Beryl's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi fails to dodge Yoshirou Kurotsuki's Black Hole, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Stun applied to Sakura Akagi!

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi fails to counter Yoshirou Kurotsuki's Black Hole, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Stun applied to Madobe Kuroi!

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi's counterattack, Flower Shot, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Yoshirou Kurotsuki!

Sailor Mars puts her hand on her hips, taking in the insults she's throwing her way "I'm not about to get riled up because a pile of sludge either! You should attempt to be solid before you can talk about any kind of beauty!"

And then, the aforementionned sludge tries to swallow her up. She has a 'erk' sound and a failing of the arms as she scurries out of the way >_< It narrowly misses her. Her body image is safe for another day!

As she moves to the side, she stumbles upon one of the microphones on its stand. Not really thinking about it, she grabs it in one hand, while the other one reaches into her suit and fetches out a set of ofudas, tossing them at the youma. While they are airborne, they catch on fire, turning into firey bullets. She's not sure how well she can take fire, but heat should affect it, she thinks "Let's see how long it takes for you to go spoiled!"

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Evil, Begone! on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl narrowly dodges Sailor Mars's Evil, Begone!, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Stun applied to Queen Beryl!

Japanese Cherry Blossom runs exactly as she said she would, but she ends up running toward a black hole! There's no way to dodge it in time, and she gets a little slowed down as the forces strike into her. She absorbs them, but... it seems that Madobe was struck as well.

Oh, well, she's... still getting used to this leader thing. "Okay. Next time, I'll go left and you right? Ahem."

She pulls a chopstick out of her hair, and it starts to glow with a golden light immediately as it's charged with magic. She dashes forward, and -- this is probably pretty weird, but, is she -- yes, she is going to stab the huge Star Lion with a chopstick.

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has used Cherry Wood Chopstick on Yoshirou Kurotsuki.

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has finished attacking.

As she reconstitutes, Kefirin says, dropping any yogurty attempts to extract Sailor Moon's discomfort regarding her trunk junk, "Sailor Moon...!? And Sailor V's understudy?! Kwahhhh, this is worse than I thought!!"

The youma clasps its hands over its mouth, wiggling energetically for a few moments. Then it says, brightly, "Oh!! If you're Sailor V's sidekicks -"

Its face contorts into a mask of sheer cruelty and abnormality for a moment. "Then finding you SUCKED DRY, like a MELON, will punish her for what she's done to oppose--" The still-inbound Kyouko is able to chain-bounce off, temporarily stifling the Youma's chatty Cathy nature. She shakes her head violently - violently enough that it appears that she's sprouted a sporty haircut (of blueberry flavor).

A spear sprouts in its abdomen. It passes through the yogurt without significant harm. Maybe there's a core or something. This may vex Kyouko, but the squeal of "STOP STABBING ME!" shows it is, at least, also vexing Kefirin. "I AM TALKING HERE! That is how it works, you DUMMY! You take TURNS!"

The youma gesticulates violently, even as a bubbling mist starts to appear, soapily, around its legs. "You let OTHER people go on the stage, and you STOP RAPPING! You ate the yogurt - now it's time for the yogurt to eat" POP

THUMP

Kefirin seems to have lost about two feet of height at once. Her face squishes up into an expression of anger and impending tears. Her head is struck by the Diva's suicide dive, splattering that face for a moment - wiping that petulant expression right off her face. As before, it does not shut the thing up.

"None of this matters!! You're all going to go down!!" Both of the youma's arms snap upwards, and the black cherry yogurt drains partially out of its body - forming tendrils that seem to rest in its hands. This is of course rather distressing, but fortunately it seems content to just whip them around and try to penalize Kyouko in such a horrorble fashion. Another lashes out to try and whip Suzu into a frothy mess, even as -

As--

The bullets of fire smash into the youma, producing an aromatic set of smokes and an offering most pleasant to Lord Shiva. Perhaps he approves, but the youma screeches, "Sailor V's cranky sidekick, you're a BIG DUMB BUTT if you think you can do this. Yogurt is formed from the curdling of milk -- I'm already spoiled, kefififififi!"

That waist hoop-disk-flare reforms, just in time to erupt outwards in an area effect of Dark Jasmine-flavored force. It even goes 'foom', although Kefirin seems to be struggling a bit to get back up, what with... the everything.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has used Black Cherry Whip on Kyouko Sakura.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has used Black Cherry Whip on Suzu Hamasaki.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has used Kefirin Wave on Usagi Tsukino.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has used Kefirin Wave on Sailor Mars.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has used Kefirin Wave on Rei Fushigiyo.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura fails to brace Queen Beryl's Black Cherry Whip, taking 20 Fatigue damage! Stun applied to Kyouko Sakura!

COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki narrowly braces Queen Beryl's Black Cherry Whip, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Suzu Hamasaki's Block ability activates! Suzu Hamasaki's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Rei Fushigiyo fails to brace Queen Beryl's Kefirin Wave, taking 19 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Sailor Mars fails to brace Queen Beryl's Kefirin Wave, taking 23 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino fails to brace Queen Beryl's Kefirin Wave, taking 18 Fatigue damage!

In the background, Tomomi takes notes. No one appreciates the artistry of a good monologue, she mentally laments.

Kyouko tries to raise her spear to intercept the roiling black cherry darkness and evade but it swirls around her polearm and lashes her sharply across the body. She goes flying, spinning to the ground and coming to a stop by denting a nearby car door, setting off its alarm. This doesn't seem to upset her too much, though she makes a frustrated noise and shows her fang again as she comes back to her feet.

"I will not stop stabbing you! You're not even a witch, you're not worth my time, but you will pay for your waste!" And assaults upon her person and pride. "You ruined the contest! And my lunch!" Yogurt for lunch?

True to her word, Kyouko starts stabbing again at the reduced monstrosity, waiting until after the wrestler is clear and the bullets have fully struck, then lashes out repeatedly from closer range, her spear seeming to almost split into multiples of itself as she strikes over and over at the Kefirin's body, swiping and stabbing--using the spearhead almost like a spade to knock its substance away.

COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura has used Dozen Lance on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura has finished attacking.

Suzu Hamasaki forgets to keep sucking it in after a while, mostly because she cannot really move fast like that.

And she's moving. Seafoam Suzu hops off the stage. If this was a /normal/ youma she might try to hit it, but somehow she doesn't think that punching it is going to work very well... that and she doesn't really want to touch it. Which gives her an idea, actually.

Suzu raises a bubble around her like a forcefield - and it actually seems to work like one, the whip bouncing on it and causing it to wobble along with the image of Suzu through it (thanks, light refraction!). Suzu begins to run toward the yogurt monster, the bubble surrounding her rolling like a solid object, catching the light interestingly, like a soap bubble.

"Sorry, yogurt! I'm not going to let you mess with anybody's diet! DREAM BUBBLE!" Suzu picks up speed. She actually looks slightly surprised as the bubble starts to get away from her; she has to run faster and faster to keep up as it begins to roll, and she's not actually that good at running. "Get out of the way!" she yells at the other magical girls, as she barrels toward Kefirin like some kind of out of control hamster ball.

COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has used Dream Bubble Roller on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has finished attacking.

Sweet Pea says, "The...the yogurt monster is your ally?! Then I can't forgive you! Yogurt shouldn't be used for evil purposes! It should be used to promote healthy eating habits by providing a sweet, but less fattening, alternative to ice cream and gellato!"

She points her pistol at Star Lion, perhaps intending to say how the snack industry may forgive him but she will not (and thus steal another person's lines) but instead she gets a black hole! She yelps, firing at the black hole in a panic--but IT DOES NOTHINK.

"Yaahh!!" The Black Hole, contrary to how black holes work, ends up punching her back somehow with darkness.

"Urghh..." Sweet Pea says, rubbing her back with a hand. "Wait..." She says. "My left--or your left?" She snaps out her pistol and fires another shot for Star Lion, hoping to pecker him with flowers!

COMBAT: Queen Beryl accepts Kyouko Sakura's Dozen Lance, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Queen Beryl is Quipped! Cripple and Stagger applied to Queen Beryl!

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has used Flower Shot on Yoshirou Kurotsuki.

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki fails to dodge Madobe Kuroi's Flower Shot, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Diversion applied to Yoshirou Kurotsuki!

Sailor Moon looks over at Japanese Cherry Blossom, and gives her a bright wave. "Cherry Blossom! You're he-" She's suddenly interrupted by the wave of Dark Jasmine flavored power. She tries to hold up her arms to brace for it, but she ends up flying backwards and tumbling into an empty Black Sea Yogurt display.

Dizzy and disoriented, Moon picks herself up out of the wreckage and points at the Yogurt monster again. With Sailor Mars also fighting by her side, Moon can't afford to get scared or fail here! Not yet, anyways!

She reaches up to her forehead, daintily holding the gem of her tiara between her thumb and index finger. She shouts, "Moon Twilight Flash!" and suddenly a flash of light fires from the gem. Powerful purifying Moonlight radiates from her tiara, and much of it focuses directly on Kefirin!

COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino has used Moon Twilight Flash on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl fails to brace Usagi Tsukino's Moon Twilight Flash, taking 42 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki narrowly counters Sakura Akagi's Cherry Wood Chopstick, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sakura Akagi is Psyched! Cripple applied to Yoshirou Kurotsuki!

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki's counterattack, Swordplay, partially gets through, doing 5 Fatigue damage to Sakura Akagi!

COMBAT: Queen Beryl fails to brace Suzu Hamasaki's Dream Bubble Roller, taking 21 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

Diva Heart doesn't emerge from the suicide dive too hot herself; she hits the ground front-first with a heavy ~*THWACK~*~ after tackling off Kefirin's head and shoulders and just lies there for a moment, rocking back and forth with her arms clutching at her midsection. She slowly works her way up onto one knee, and then onto her feet, turning to face the youma again--

-- just in time to be hit with the eruption of magic from Kefirin, which hits her with such force that she's lifted into the air and folded in half, landing heavily on her shoulders and then rolling backwards to lie on her stomach, thrashing in pain.

She stays down for a good fifteen or twenty seconds, and it isn't until the next wave of attacks has crashed against Kefirin, and the youma is preparing for its counterassault, when Diva Heart comes running in out of nowhere, plants one hand on Kefirin's shoulder, and leapfrogs into the air, swinging her legs up over the youma's head.

Rather than leapfrogging all the way over her (it?), however, she hooks her right leg across the back of the youma's neck and then lets herself drop straight down, aiming to force the monster to fall face-first into the ground to sandwich it in between the earth and Diva Heart's leg.

COMBAT: Diva Heart has used Is Diva Heart Billy Gunn? on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Diva Heart has finished attacking.

Sailor Mars doesn't get to dodge that one. With the width of the attack, she brings her arms in front of herself to protect her chest and head as much as she can. But to little avail, as the wave sends her flying back, crashing into the background of the small stage, which makes even more noise considering she was still holding on to the microphone. While pushing some of the random stage props that fell on top of her, you can even hear her muttering about being tossed around by a snack, and force feedding it to Sailor Moon to see if it can be digested too. Sailor Cranky, not too far off the truth there.

She finally gets up from the pile, looking just a little battered, with her uniform riddled with small rips. Amazingly it still holds though, despite the rips its sturdier than it looks. She looks at the microphone still in her hand, and that the pile of goo is standing in front of one of those giant speakers. Time to blast away. She takes a big air intake, and simply SCREAMS with the highest pitched voice she can muster right into the microphone, which is sure to be painful to the sludge... if it has ears of course.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Sailor Wail on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl fails to brace Sailor Mars's Sailor Wail, taking 0 Fatigue damage!

Suzu Hamasaki does not have ears.

She has frills, though. They vibrate in sync with Sailor Mars' screaming. Ow, she thinks to herself, but is too busy trying not to pinball-ricochet to do much else. Like yell at her. That comes later.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl fails to brace Diva Heart's Is Diva Heart Billy Gunn?, taking 20 Fatigue damage!

"The Star Lion does not abandon a promise!" He whirls, bringing his sword up at the chopstick. One is tiny, the other is /immense/. And yet, it cannot be fully parried. Cherry Blossom stabs the thing into a joint in Star Lion's armor, though he manages a good shove after that. Still, it keeps him distracted enough that he cannot even begin to avoid the flower shots, which pepper his back and distract him at a key moment!

"Rrgh...I knew you were powerful, but I will not fail! You face the most powerful necromancer that has ever lived, a man that has survived between the stars! Do you know what lies in the void, in the area between the stars?" He lunges for Cherry Blossom, doing his best to fight despite the distractions and the joint jab. His blade comes down, slicing...not for her, but for the ground beneath them. Magical power wells up from the blow, exploding upwards at Cherry Blossom. "NOTHING! Nothing lies between the stars! The void is dead and empty! All that can be found are those few bits of power..."

He whirls on Sweet Pea, casting a hand forth. From the sky, a black flame blazes, slamming down towards her. "SHOOTING STAR!"

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has used The Nothing on Sakura Akagi.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has used Shooting Star on Madobe Kuroi.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has finished attacking.

This new thing of repeated stabbing seems to be working out for Kyouko, or at least it makes the yogurtbeast complain, "THE CONTEST WAS DUUUMB! We were just going to extract the energy from the winnerrrrrr but instead we're getting all of youuuu!" Globs of yogurt fly through the air, and some of them don't immediately ooze back, either.

NOTE: Those are edible.

The rolling bubble accelerating towards her makes Kefirin squat down low, squinting at Suzu as she spreads her arms out like a sumo. Preparing for this, perhaps - and then ending up bowled into that stand wherein the yogurt was being vended. Thousands of little plastic cuppies go flying into the air, clattering around as the creature squawks again in dismay. Rising upwards, it humpfs out, cheeks puffing, "Your dreams are dumb!! You're all DUMB! You're -"

sparkle

The moonlight strikes it in the chest. The ray goes right through it; Kefirin blinks twice, before looking down, and then wailing in dismay, "Whyyyy!? Shot through the hearttttt, and you're -"

A brief harmonizing with Sailor Mars' diva wail. "TO"

A speaker catches fire. "BLAME!!"

"You give Love and Justice a bad-" BAH GAWD, the head of the youma is shoved down by Diva Heart's leg drop - once again she splatters the creature, face first, into the ground. Curiously enough, the cylindrical hole that Sailor Moon's twinkling ray lanced through it is sealing very slowly, compared to other attacks; this may give Diva Heart a critical piece of information.

Kefirin's headbits are too splattered around to do more than gurgle incoherently, although they do splash around. One particularly unsavory tendril of black cherry lashes upwards to try and backhand Sailor Mars over the face. However, her true humiliation is when the two arms of the youma gurgle, reverse themselves, and then reach up -- to try and pinch at her love handles.

It needs to say no more.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has used Absorbing Your Body Image Issues on Diva Heart.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has used Black Cherry Whip on Sailor Mars.

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi perfectly dodges Yoshirou Kurotsuki's The Nothing, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge!

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has used Yogurt Just Getting Everywhere Eww on Kyouko Sakura.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has used Yogurt Just Getting Everywhere Eww on Usagi Tsukino.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has used Yogurt Just Getting Everywhere Eww on Suzu Hamasaki.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki perfectly braces Queen Beryl's Yogurt Just Getting Everywhere Eww, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Brace! Suzu Hamasaki's Block ability activates! Suzu Hamasaki's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino narrowly braces Queen Beryl's Yogurt Just Getting Everywhere Eww, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Tangle applied to Usagi Tsukino!

COMBAT: Sailor Mars narrowly braces Queen Beryl's Black Cherry Whip, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Stun applied to Sailor Mars!

COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura narrowly dodges Queen Beryl's Yogurt Just Getting Everywhere Eww, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Tangle applied to Kyouko Sakura!

COMBAT: Diva Heart fails to dodge Queen Beryl's Absorbing Your Body Image Issues, taking 10 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi narrowly dodges Yoshirou Kurotsuki's Shooting Star, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Madobe Kuroi is Quipped! Madobe Kuroi's Flash ability activates! Blind applied to Madobe Kuroi!

Cherry Blossom pulls her chopstick backward, and -- flip -- she does a backflip, legs over head, tucking and rolling to avoid the returning well that exploded beneath her feet. She lands gracefully on both feet, a meter or so away from where she leapt from.

There's a quick moment of vertigo as she realizes that her reflexes served her so well. ...Did I really do that? she asks herself.

She straightens up instead of lingering on it. While she's still close enough to Star Lion, she raises her hands and summons magic from the ground under him. "As long as life exists... I don't fear the void. Cherry trees - hear my call!"

Branches, covered in blossoms, bloom up all around Star Lion, some of them threatening to pierce him, and others to pin him down.

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has used Cherry Tree Magic on Yoshirou Kurotsuki.

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has finished attacking.

Suzu Hamasaki ricochets. She is entirely at a loss to stop her rolling at this point; she's more being carried along by the bubble than steering it, and she's dizzy enough that she can't actually see where she's going. She orients mostly on Mars' yelling into the microphone.

And then yogurt hits the bubble. The first few spats just stick to it, or slide down, but then a particularly big glob hits it with enough force and mass to cover the entire top half of the bubble in what appears to be dark chocolate.

It pops. The yogurt, now moving much more slowly since it only fell a few inches, falls. It mostly misses Suzu, splatting behind her (she didn't stop moving when the bubble vanished) but some of it spatters her back and her hair.

"I like yogurt, but this is too much!" An incensed Seafoam Suzu has completely forgotten about the prior insults to her weight; normally somewhat cool and composed, she's upset with the mess this monster is making and the threat it poses. "Come on, all of you! Let's stop this thing!"

Suzu reaches up to her hair. She yanks free her star-shaped hairclip, causing the hair on that side to tumble artfully down and half hide her earfrill. Winding up, Suzu throws it like a particularly small frisbee. "Stardust... SPRAY!"

In flight, the red coral clip turns into shimmering silvery energy and grows twice its normal size; trailing starlight sparkles and a fine mist that leaves a visible rainbow behind, the magically imbued light drives straight for Kefirin before (hopefully) the light hits it and the coral clip rebounds for Suzu's waiting hand!

COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has used Shining Stardust Spray on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has finished attacking.

Sailor Moon makes an "euck!" noise as EVIL YOGURT sprays all over the place. She tries to brace for the hit again, but that just ends with the goopy stuff getting all over her arms instead of her, though some of it manages to get on her boots. Her movements are being slowed due to the stickiness, and it shows as she tries to stumble around the stage with her boots sticking to everything. Eugh...

Tired of getting splattered all of the time, Moon tries to trudge forward, shaking some of the goop from her boot and rushing towards the Youma. When she closes the distance, she lunges forward, bringing her knee up in order to send it into the Youma's gut. During her rush, she yells, "Sailor Moon KICK!"

Kyouko may dress like it's perpetual laundry day but that doesn't mean she likes getting stains on her clothes...even if these are kind of virtual clothes created by a supertech machine. She also doesn't want this particular food /back/ for all that she is angry at its waste, and so she clutches her spear against her body and leaps straight up, flipping backwards to land some feet further away, one hand braced upon the ground. Wads of yogurt pass beneath her to splatter cars and buildings behind like some kind of health food warzone.

"Kch," She mutters, and then rushes forward again, this time driving her spear point into the ground to propel herself at the yogurt-beast's remaining head with a double-kick, going for blunt damage and ignoring her earlier stain-wariness.

COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino has used Sailor Moon Kick on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura has used Spear-Vault Kick on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Kyouko Sakura has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl fails to brace Suzu Hamasaki's Shining Stardust Spray, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Suzu Hamasaki is Psyched! Stagger applied to Queen Beryl!

COMBAT: Queen Beryl narrowly braces Usagi Tsukino's Sailor Moon Kick, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Usagi Tsukino is Psyched! Queen Beryl's Parry ability activates!

Sailor Mars doesn't think that the sonic attack had muche ffect. In fact, she even used it in her song. And then she gets covered in yogurt. Ewww. Well, not compeltly, but enough for her to stop and try to kick it off her leg, finding it all gooey and sticky. >_< "That's enough of you!" In her hand, she forms a fireball, about the size of a baseball, that she throws with an underhand motion right toward the yogurt youma. Should it miss, its likely to hit the giant speaker, and hopefully shut up that infernal racket too. "Your singing is terrible! Rattling coins in an empty can is more melodious than you!"

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has used Fireball on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Sailor Mars has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl narrowly braces Sailor Mars's Fireball, taking 8 Fatigue damage! Queen Beryl's Parry ability activates! Stagger applied to Queen Beryl!

COMBAT: Queen Beryl narrowly braces Kyouko Sakura's Spear-Vault Kick, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Queen Beryl's Parry ability activates!

Diva Heart is... ... actually in really good shape, and doesn't really have any love handles to speak of. In the course of attempting to grab them, however, and in its hunt for body image issues, Kefirin does manage to grab two yogurty palmfuls of undeveloped teenage boob.

Diva Heart turns bright red and lets out a high-pitched squeal, rolling backwards off of the youma's smashed head and away from its weird yogurt grabby tendrils. She scrambles to her feet, turning around and surveying the area in an attempt to determine who saw her humiliation, and exactl how bad she should feel.

She hasn't forgotten the real issue at hand, and turns around once Kefirin's head has finished reforming, and she's risen to her feet, so that she can...

... just straight up slap the shit out of the youma.

COMBAT: Diva Heart has used Slap on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Diva Heart has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl narrowly counters Diva Heart's Slap, taking 5 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Queen Beryl's counterattack, The Yogurt Eats You, partially gets through, doing 16 Fatigue damage to Diva Heart! Queen Beryl drains 2 fatigue from Diva Heart!

"That's not true!" Sweet Pea cries--but it's too late! Yoshirou unleashes a wave of black fire--Sweet Pea leaps out of the way, but the blaze still grazes her side before she drops down to the ground once more. "Between the stars there's stuff like dark matter, astral debris, gas, comets, asteroids, radiation, satellites, moons, planets, solar winds--"

"And other things!"

She dives to the right, opening fire with both pistols! "I won't let Soldier Angel or neechan down!"

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has used Viewtiful Pea on Yoshirou Kurotsuki.

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki narrowly braces Sakura Akagi's Cherry Tree Magic, taking 13 Fatigue damage! Yoshirou Kurotsuki's Parry ability activates!

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki narrowly braces Madobe Kuroi's Viewtiful Pea, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Madobe Kuroi is Psyched! Yoshirou Kurotsuki's Parry ability activates!

Stardust rains down onto the creature as it attempts to reconstitute itself. "Ooogh... Kefirin's going to win this one!" the youma declares. "You're all going to get sucked dry for the sake of the Dark Kingdom! Your energy - your energyy--"

Her face reforms... in time to receive a Sailor Moon Kick, which splatters it.

The youma begins making a noise of high pitched frustration. "STOP HITTING ME IN THE FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!" Another kick, a Kyoukick in fact: this time actually knocking the reforming head off where it gubbles in protest, the fireball wrecking it, the youma sagging underneath this attack - the head reforming once more.

It's kind of a cariacture now. And then Diva Heart comes in and takes her swing. The slap connects... and the side of the yogurty face ripples, turning into a mouth, and grabbing onto her arm. "MMffh!!"

Kefirin's eyes narrow. "Mmfmfffff mfff fmfffff mffff Mfff Mfngfmm, mffhgh fmfhgghfhhfh mffhfhghgh." She gesticulates, as if making a telling point. "Mmfghghghfm mmffff, mmfffghhh, mmff! Mff, MFFF MFFF!" The arms come together, producing a hand gesture that's most unladylike. One finger goes up to tug down a relative eyelidlike structure. "Mffhg fmmfggh, MFFFGH MFFGH, mff mffgh MFFGH MFF MGHF MF MG!!"

She starts energetically attempting to chew up Diva Heart's arm. This is a mixed effort. On the one hand, being composed entirely out of a gelatinous dairy dessert treat and meal substitute, Kefirin does not have what we'd call a lot in the way of teeth. What she does have, however, is jaw force. This is a rather brutal gumming. Can Diva Heart resist the pain? Can she hold out? For in her focus on the possible world champion contender --

Kefirin is ignoring everyone else!? At least for this moment.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has used This Attack Represents An Ironic Demise For Kyouko Sakura on Diva Heart.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has finished attacking.

A-ha, Tomomi thinks. The Dark Kingdom! That's helpful. She makes more notes in her Moleskine for her eventual report on this matter. Dark Kiss will be interested to hear of these activities. Perhaps this yogurt method could be modified into cold cream.

"Ha! Your 'science' means nothing to the magic of the void! You may not fear it - but it does not fear you, eithjer!" The cherry branches come up around the Star Lion, who grabs wrestles with them, tearing them apart as they pierce through some of his armor. "You cannot contain me!" The pistol blasts come down at him, but the Star Lion whirls and meets them with his crossed arms, skidding slightly.

"The darkness devours, consumes! If you would stop it, show me your will! If your will can defeat mine, then I will pull back, honor satisfied! But if you cannot..." Yoshirou takes a moment to pause and try to think of an appropriately ridiculous and impressive threat. One that will make them think he's powerful and impressive. It needn't be /real/. "If you do not, then by the contract of the Void, the wishes of those who ate that yogurt will be MINE!" He laughs loudly. "NOW! Let me show you MY WILL! AND YOU WILL SHOW ME YOURS!"

He raises a fist. "COME TO ME, O STARLIT DARKNESS!" The black power rises around Cherry Blossom, trying to drain her power to feed into the Star Lion armor. "STRIKE DOWN MY FOES! BLACK PULSAR!" And another wave of darkness explodes out of the Star Lion, blasting for Madobe!

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has used Starlit Darkness on Sakura Akagi.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has used Black Pulsar on Madobe Kuroi.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi narrowly braces Yoshirou Kurotsuki's Black Pulsar, taking 11 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Diva Heart narrowly dodges Queen Beryl's This Attack Represents An Ironic Demise For Kyouko Sakura, taking 4 Mana damage! Queen Beryl drains 3 mana from Diva Heart!

'The wishes of those who ate the yogurt' is probably not as impressive as Star Lion thinks it is. At least, Cherry Blossom has that thought, just for a moment. But... his power is a lot more convincing. The darkness grips into her, and she can feel the pull, the coldness of space. She lets out a scream as she tries to brace against it. This will IS powerful.

She has to fight it off. She stands her ground, and stays focused. Her eyes look somewhere far away... but the smell of perfume, around her, brings her back to reality.

It starts to intensify as she begins a new spell. "You want to taste power, then... it's time for perfume power! Sweet Pea! Get ready!"

The nostalgic smell of cherry blossom mist begins to build around her... a light wave of pink flowing out toward Star Lion with its building scent. But it's just the beginning. "Cherry Blossom mists, I summon you!"

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has used Blossom Mist on Yoshirou Kurotsuki.

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has finished attacking.

Madobe brings up her arms. The wave of darkness slams into Sweet Pea, but her sweet perfumey aura repels the worst of Yoshirou's blow! She lets out a low breath and then frowns, deeply--now, NOW Sweet Pea is determined to get serious! All that talk about how terrible science is--just makes her upset! "Science isn't about what is and isn't there, it's a process to find the truth! Since magic is obviously real--then science and magic coexist!"

She reaches down and draws out her cellphone--raising it suddenly...and snapping a picture of him.

"I'm going to report you to the scientific community...and ask them...who is cooler, you or Soldier Angel!"

She taps rapidly at her cellphone before snapping up her phone once again to show Star Lion the results.

The predominant question seems to be: What are you talking about? Who is Star Lion? What is Soldier Angel? This is a serious blog for serious people!

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has used Flamewar on Yoshirou Kurotsuki.

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has finished attacking.

Well. Diva Heart... probably should have seen that coming. The girl's eyes widen, and she wrenches her arm backwards, trying to yank it out of Kefirin's mouth to no avail. After a few tugs, her legs buckle and she collapses to one knee, swinging her free hand up to grab at her elbow and use it to help pull. She still makes no progress, however.

With a snarl of pain, the Diva rotates on her knees, turning to stretch her free arm into the empty air. A few feet away, the trio of rainbow ring ropes shimmer into existence again, and Diva Heart flops onto her back, straining her left arm in a reach for the ropes. Try as she might, however, and despite a fair bit of writhing, she can't quite reach them, and after about ten seconds of trying she lets out another squeal of pain and rolls back onto her side, stretching her left arm over the ground; she's balling it into and out of a fist rhythmically, in obvious pain, and a few times motions as if about to tap out, lifting her open palm and swinging it down towards the ground before checking it at the last second.

Eventually, she takes a deep, gasping breath... and then rolls onto her knees again and darts quickly around the youma, placing the length of her arm across its yogurty throat. Its an awkward maneuever, what with her hand being embedded in the thing's mouth, but Diva Heart circles around behind it and then springs into the air, digging her knees into the thing's back and hooking her other arm across its yogurty throat, tightening her grip in an attempt to...

... choke out... the yogurt monster? She might not have thought this through.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki fails to dodge Madobe Kuroi's Flamewar, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Yoshirou Kurotsuki is Quipped!

COMBAT: Diva Heart has used Sleeper Hold on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Diva Heart has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki fails to brace Sakura Akagi's Blossom Mist, taking 9 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Queen Beryl accepts Diva Heart's Sleeper Hold, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Queen Beryl is Quipped!

Oh no, Suzu thinks, is it going to /eat/ that poor girl?

"Hello! You!" Seafoam Suzu points at Kefirin. "We're not going to let you get away with that! Or at least I'm not! I'm going to wash the evil right out of that yogurt!"

Suzu's banter needs work. What needs less work is her actual powers. Suzu spreads her arms wide, and a star-shaped glow forms directly under Kefirin. This is in and of itself completely harmless, if a little worrying when it just decides to put itself there. But that's when Suzu speaks again.

"SEAFOAM LUMINOUS STAR!"

The star-shaped pattern pulses - and then explodes upwards, a geyser of starlight and water. Star Lion may (if he's watching) be a little confused by the presence of star power over there without Soldier Angel anywhere nearby, but the magic light combined with the purifying water has a different source this time; the star-shaped clip on Suzu's forehead is glowing the same pure silver as the fountain. "By the power of the stars, I purify you!" she says, pointing dramatically at Kefirin, the sarong billowing as much as it can fit the way it is.

Does this count, she wonders, as cleaning up? Because it totally should.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Suzu Hamasaki has used Seafoam Luminous Star on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki has finished attacking.

As the mist rises, Star Lion prepares to consume it with dark power...until Madobe speaks. He turns, the fire in his helmet flaring. The magic tears into him, draining some of his power, but this is important. Image is /vital/. "You /dare/? The Soldier Angel is powerful, I admit...but I am the Star Lion! There is no one who can compare to me!" He raises one gauntleted fist to the sky. "It was I who consumed the power of the Leonids!"

Star Lion gestures widely. "It was I who discovered the dark powers of immortality! It was I who cast aside the weakness of the human shell to assume the might of the void! I am a knight of the darkness, a wizard of the void! The Soldier Angel is just that - a soldier! I am so much more!"

Yeah he might keep going for a while.

Tomomi takes note of the Star Lion. His fixation on power has piqued her interest. Perhaps he will be...

useful.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has used Self-Motivating Rant on Madobe Kuroi.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has used Self-Motivating Rant on Sakura Akagi.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki has finished attacking.

Kyouko draws back a bit as the yogurt monster starts trying to chew up along Diva Heart's arm with kind of an 'eww' expression crossing her face. "That's just...that's just--" She was going to say wrong, but then Diva Heart counterattacks and she just finishes with a 'wrong' aimed kind of generally at both of them.

"THAT'S JUST WRONG!" She finally concludes, yelling at the top of her lungs. "ALL OF IT!" Her anger has managed to climb back over the disgust and come roaring forth as energy rises behind her. She holds up her spear for a moment in triumph or challenge, perhaps both, then thrusts it into the ground before herself. Cracks split along the stage, the pavement, all around and more spears emerge in profusion, one after another, a brief forest emerging and striking upwards at Kefirin from all angles--and somehow missing Diva Heart, Usagi, and all other non-aggressors in its range.

With most of the aggro being on Diva Heart, Sailor Moon has a moment to recover. She looks around at her friend, Sailor Mars, and the other magical girls fighting. They all seem to have their own reasons, but at the least they have one common enemy. When Kefirin tries to attack Diva, she gets even more riled up.

"Inexcusable!" shouts Sailor Moon. "I won't let people be eaten by treats! Especially not a magical girl!"

She backpedals away, still covered in delicious yogurt, as she starts reaching for her tiara. The tiara's gem glows for a second, right before she takes it off. The tiara begins to glow brightly in Usagi's hands, light flying upwards.

Sailor Moon twirls around, as the tiara transforms into an energy disk. At the end of her twirl, it's now not unlike a frisbee made of magical power.

"Moon... Tiara... ACTION!" she yells, as she reels her hand back and then launches it forward, throwing the magical disk at the evil youma!

The energy disk flies towards the yogurt monster, as Moon tries to aim exactly where the Kefirin seems to hate it...

Right in the Face.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Usagi Tsukino has used Moon Tiara Action on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl fails to brace Kyouko Sakura's Forest for the Trees, taking 25 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Queen Beryl accepts Usagi Tsukino's Finisher, Moon Tiara Action, taking 117 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi narrowly dodges Yoshirou Kurotsuki's Self-Motivating Rant, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Yoshirou Kurotsuki is Psyched! Madobe Kuroi's Flash ability activates!

Japanese Cherry Blossom takes a big breath, mostly through her nose. It's very soothing, and helps her to focus her energies. And it really looks like Star Lion is going to... keep going on like that.

She looks over at Sweet Pea. "Listen. I'm not sure exactly even what he's talking about, but I think it's time we shut it down. Are you ready to lay down some heavy fire?"

She clasps her hands together in front of her chest. Pink winds start to build around her. "Star Lion. You may believe that power comes from the void. But even in the darkness, there is light. And as long as there is air to breathe... we will fill it with our hopeful magic. Now..."

There is another burst of light, erupting from below her and billowing her skirts and sleeves. Pink flowers form, suspended in the air around her. She combines her magic with Sweet Pea's this time: two powerful pink flower scents merging together. Cherry Blossom twirls around in her signature way before unleashing the spell. "CHERRY BLOSSOM ELIMINATION--"

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has started a combo targeting Yoshirou Kurotsuki!

The Star Lion starts talking. Sweet Pea listens at first but gradually stops paying attention. A butterfly lands on her nose, she goes crosseyed trying to look at it. A nice breeze rustles through her hair. She checks her instant messages and her webcomics. Eventually she looks up, catching something about Tokiko.

She lowers her cellphone and pockets it.

"Soldier Angel isn't just a soldier, she's an inspiration!" She nods to Cherry Blossom, her own perfume spinning around and DOCKING together (really more swirly).

"SWEET PEA! SHOTGUN! SOJOURN!" She unleashes her own spell--in conjunction with Cherry Blossom's!

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has joined the combo started by Sakura Akagi!

COMBAT: COMBO! FINISHER! Sakura Akagi and Madobe Kuroi have used Cherry Blossom Elimination and Sweet Pea Shotgun Sojourn on Yoshirou Kurotsuki.

COMBAT: Sakura Akagi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Madobe Kuroi has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki fails to counter Sakura Akagi and Madobe Kuroi's Finisher, Combo: Cherry Blossom Elimination, taking 120 Fatigue damage!

COMBAT: Yoshirou Kurotsuki's counterattack, Black Star Rising, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Sakura Akagi!

The sleeper hold snakes around the neck of the creature. And by gadfree, that grasp...

Well. It's an open question if Kefirin is being choked, but having to regrow her head about ten times- as well as being perforated by profound purity - has left her, shall we say, less flexible than she might be. The arm throws around her and the youma produces a noise best rendered as 'gurk!,' a huge blueberry tongue lolling out. Can she endure? Will she tap?!

The ground itself produces spears, smashing into the youma's gelatinous form! Cracks are starting to form, like when you make a goopy cornstarch bowl to perform some highly symbolic experiments, then slap it a lot. The star shaped pulse of water washes over her, making sizzling, fragrant smoke fill the air. "Kyahhh - w, won't Kefirin's handsome PRINCE come and... save her, from all of the...?!" the youma squeals, incoherently.

What kind of a fragrance? For the benefit of our perfumers, it's a sort of smoked-Gouda and blueberry preserves smell - a little atypical, yes, but definitely pleasant on the nose. It has a good bouquet.

"Fuwaaahhhh... gnnhhh... I'm not a typical... don't take me li... gwannnghhh!!" Kefirin squeals in dismay as the Moon Tiara is revealed, the searing light lashing outwards towards her face. Her mouth hangs open - open so widely, in fact, that the Moon Tiara flies INTO her mouth, and out the back of her neck, and past Diva Heart, rebounding off the sound board and back towards Sailor Moon. Black cherry yogurt sprays everywhere, though harmlessly. Twinkling white seems to spread out from the injury, the youma thrashing weakly.

It goes limp in Diva Heart's arms. Its right arm, raised up in defiance, slaps down, palm first, on the ground. It starts oozing down all those spikes that Kyouko produced. Victory, right...? It's slowly dissolving into approximately a quarter-ton of fruit flavored yogurt! Dissolving in... A single direction...

Kefirin's burbling voice warbles out, as it becomes a semi-shapeless mound, lacking any of its early elegant lines, "I WON'T - LEAVE - WITHOUT THE ENERGY...!!" It surges upwards, a shapeless and humanoid mass of dark hues, and spreads its arms out, shedding yogurt as it goes, aiming to sweep the left arm around Sailor Moon, the right around Seafoam Suzu --

And then pull both into its center mass. For the engulfening.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Queen Beryl has used Lactocalypse on Usagi Tsukino.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Queen Beryl has used Lactocalypse on Suzu Hamasaki.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Suzu Hamasaki fails to brace Queen Beryl's Finisher, Lactocalypse, taking 101 Fatigue damage! Suzu Hamasaki is unable to keep fighting!

COMBAT: Usagi Tsukino narrowly dodges Queen Beryl's Finisher, Lactocalypse, taking 70 Fatigue damage! Usagi Tsukino is unable to keep fighting! Usagi Tsukino's Fade ability activates! Usagi Tsukino's Flash ability activates!

The Star Lion pauses his ranting when he notices that neither of his foes is really listening any more. He waits politely for their speeches, his eyes flaring. "Yes...show me your hope! Show me your power! AND I WILL UNLEASH MINE!" As the scents fill his nose, behind the black helmet, Star Lion focuses. The sky darkens, as he calls on the power of the Leonids. "LET US SEE WHOSE WILL IS STRONGER!"

He raises his blade to the sky. "BLACK STAR RISING!" The dark power explodes outwards, slamming into the spells of Sweet Pea and Cherry Blossom. For a moment, it seems to hold, as the world goes monochrome...

And then the dark power is annihilated by perfume and pastels. The magic slams into the Star Lion surrounding him utterly. The blue flames in his helmet's eyes gutter as he is forced to his knees. "You..." He tries to force himself to stand, shaking. Only part of it is an act. "Your will...I never believed that mere mortals could...could possess such willpower...such hope..." He slams his sword into the ground, using it as a cane to stand. From there, he stands more solidly, lifting the blade in salute.

"I gave my word. Your will has surpassed mine. If I fought on...no. There is no hope for my victory today. Next time...next time, Scented Warriors, things will be different." He turns, nearly collapsing again until he uses the sword as a cane.

"Next time, I will defeat you."

Sailor Moon's attack hit home... but it wasn't enough? Geeze, what is this youma /made/ of?!

Well. Aside from yogurt, that is.

Sailor Moon, vulnerable for a moment, retrieves her moon tiara and puts it back on... but then the yogurtyouma's counter attack comes. The big yogurty limb wraps around Moon, crushing her as they pull her in. She struggles to stay up, but... the yougurty wrath is too much.

She starts getting engulfed in yogurt, her energy starting to drain. If only she had eaten better food, maybe she wouldn't have to suffer such a terrible fate! Alas, this seems to be the end for our klutzy moon senshi.

Unless, you know, someone comes along and saves her. That'd be cool, too.

Suzu Hamasaki still has her arms spread wide. She expects the thing to be falling apart now.

And it does! Sort of. Kefirin begins to fall apart, and Suzu thinks it's defeated; she starts to lower them, apparently confident in victory. She's relatively inexperienced with youma.

And that means she is a relatively easy target when it surges back upward. Suzu spins, resummoning a bubble around her and yelling in surprise - but the huge rush of yogurt surrounds her bubble, squeezing it with far more strength and weight than Suzu was expecting.

The bubble pops. Suzu's yell turns into a muffled gurgle as yogurt rushes into her mouth, and she vanishes inside the monster. She squirms - but she's not getting out of /that/ on her own, unable to really move through the squeezing mass. There are occasional bubbly yelling sounds from inside as Suzu tries to free herself, or at least her head, without success - but the vice grip the yogurt has on her (from the inside of her mouth even) isn't letting her go.

The single advantage is that, not being water, the yogurt monster does not also turn her back into a mermaid. Small victories, apparently.

Kyouko is breathing heavily at this point, though she doesn't look too terribly injured by the punishment levied by the Kefirin's lashings. Well, aside from ruptured dignity. When the monster is impaled upon her various spears, when it seems about ready to die, she reaches up to touch the jewel at her throat, swallowing slightly, hoping this is all she will have to do. But it may not be so.

She takes in another deep breath, anger still burning in her eyes. "It's just a youma," she spits out, in Diva Heart's general direction. "You finish it off." She leans on her spear, one fist cocked against her hip, half an eye on the Star Lion--but she heard him voice an end to hostilities.

Cherry Blossom lowers her hands, and stands straight up, for a moment. She thought they might not succeed, but... Star Lion is retreating now. "I don't think you will. But we'll see. Next time."

She looks over toward where the others are fighting.... yogurt. But she needs a moment to catch her breath, too. "Nice work, Sweet Pea," she adds to her lil' sis.

Sweet Pea is starting to think maybe she's getting the hang of it. She says, "Thanks, Cherry Blossom!" She beams--

--then remembers what she did earlier today.

"...I better go uh... ... ... check facebook!"

She bows several times and, face red, runs off.

Oh wow, it /did/ work.

When Kefirin disincorporates, Diva Heart releases the hold on the melting yogurt pile and rolls away, pulling her arm entirely free and clutching at it in obvious pain. She remains down and out of sight, while the reconstituting yogurt goes and... ... murders Suzu and Sailor Moon.

Hmmm. Well, that's not great. Kyouko calls to the recovering Diva to fix her shit, and the girl snaps back, "I was going to! Who even /are/ you?!"

As the two other girls are dragged towards their dark yogurty hell, Diva Heart suddenly springs into the air behind the yogurt monster, leapfrogging (and this time entirely) over it and turning in midair to land on her feet facing the monster, to--

-- once again draw her hand back and slap the hell out of the monster. Before the thing can suck up her hand, she whips it back and slaps it again, and again, and again; she keeps slapping, in fact, until the monster releases its prey. When it does, Diva Heart's hands snap out to grab the thing's right arm, and she plants her feet and wrenches the entire limb, whipping the yogurt youma across the ground to send it sliding across the ground... towards the girls? How's that supposed to--

--a steel post appears in front of the sliding Kefirin, complete with three rainbow-padded turnbuckles and two sets of rainbow ring ropes stretching off into nothingness. Before it even impacts, Diva Heart is sprinting after it, and a second after the monster does the diva leaps, sliding her body between the second and third ropes to slam her rigid right arm into the goop's midsection; it rebounds off of the turnbuckle, staggering ('staggering') a good two meters forwards and then collapsing into a puddle.

Diva Heart, meanwhile, slips the rest of her body between the ropes, from where she was sitting on the second one, and grabs ahold of the top rope, turning to look at the fallen Sailor Moon and Suzu. With a grimace, she tosses her twintails back out of her face, and then tightens her grip on the rope, pulling it back towards her body and then releasing her grip on the ground to slingshot up and land precariously balanced on it.

Rather than stand on it, however, she uses it like a trampoline, springing off again, her arms held out to her side and her hair streaming behind her, to diving headbutt the giant pile of yogurt.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Diva Heart has used Five Moves of Doom on Queen Beryl.

COMBAT: Diva Heart has finished attacking.

COMBAT: Queen Beryl accepts Diva Heart's Finisher, Five Moves of Doom, taking 134 Fatigue damage! Queen Beryl is unable to keep fighting!

The ground gives way slightly beneath Diva Heart on impact, and she springs upwards onto her feet, turning to pace back towards the still-extant rainbow corner. "COME ON, BABY!" she screams at the top of her lungs, grabbing the top rope and shaking it, ripples spreading outwards through the rope like it was a radio wave.

After a few seconds of this, she turns and drops heavily onto all fours, her hands balled into fists, pounding them into the ground in a slowly building rhythm as the yogurt blob pulls itself together and regains its senses, pulling itself back together into something vaguely humanoid.

Just as it's about to finish rising, Diva Heart lunges like a runner off the block, sliding underneath the rising youma, planting her shoulders into its midsection, and hoisting the entire thing off of the ground with a roar of exertion, hooking one arm around (into) its neck and the other around (into) one of its le-- bottom bits.

Her chest puffing in and out as she gulps in a few deep breaths, Diva Heart turns in a slow circle, takes two steps, and then springs into the air.

As she goes up, she bounces Kefirin upwards and over her head, turning the youma so that its 'head' - as much as an ooze can really have one - points towards the ground, and then drops heavily onto her knees with the head between them, both of her hands plunged into the yogurt monster to hold it in place, with its shoulders down. Normally it would require keeping her foe's head between her legs... but in this case, she'll settle for exploding the head, instead. The Star Lion just raises one hand as he stalks off, leaning on his sword. "Remember my name, warriors. For I will remember yours!"

And then there is a dark flash, as Yoshirou uses the last of his power to teleport several blocks away, to a nice empty lot he can turn back in.

Yoshirou Kurotsuki lets out a long, low breath. "/Ow/. Note to self: Real fights really hurt, stick to the show fights when possible."

As the two heroines of dreams and light are gathered up into yogurty hell, it feels cold and enervating. Kefirin squeals in triumph, "I've done iiiit!! These two pure hearts - no, pure energies - will bring us victory AND -"

"AND -"

She's already getting coherent again. By the time Diva Heart comes upon her, she's already regained her original form. That was a mistake. For you see, as a certain magical princess has learned, even the invincible have joints.

Kefirin looks over her shoulder. "Eh?" Her head tracks around to look at Diva Heart, lip curling back in a sneer. "You want s-"

SLAP!! The ringing blows hit its face. With multiple blows from both direction, Kefirin is unable to lose cohesion quickly enough to splatter - Diva Heart leaves her confined, absorbing damage and screeching in wordless indignation at this facial domination! Then she raises her right arm to strike the arrant mite down.

This gets her grabbed and whipped, smashing towards the others, until she strikes against the Turnbuckle. Her entire body quivers violently - Usagi's head briefly bobbles out of her shoulder - and she says in dismay, "What?! No! BLAAARGH!!" This is where Seafoam Suzu is violently smashed out of her. (Usagi remains stuck.) The diving headbutt drives Sailor Moon back into the belly of the beast, but any coldness is starting to fade away in the face of such intense heat.

Staggering, Kefirin puts a hand to her head, staring in disbelief at Diva Heart and finally saying outwards, towards her, "This doesn't matter!! None of this matters!! You're never going to win W-"

"Wah -"

Hoisted upwards, Sailor Moon finally breaks free, splattering out in a blueberry puddle out of the creature as it's spun around. "This can't be happeniiiiiing!!" Kefirin wails, before smashing downwards. "GWAAAHH!!"

The head resists for a fraction of a second beneath Diva Heart.

Then it gives way. A few instants later, the remainder of Kefirin does as well, erupting upwards in four distinct streams of yogurt, launched upwards at intense speeds! They rise upwards so quickly, in fact, that some parts of them freeze solid in the cooling evening air - falling down as fruity snowflakes.

Other portions remain largely intact and will descend with greater effect, some time later. But Kefirin itself...

IS OUT.

Madobe is never going to eat yogurt again.

"Hnh." Kyouko answers to Diva Heart's question. "Not important for you to know." Of course, she says that in her best high-handed contemptuous tone after the other girl just totally beat a yogurt monster's head into the ground among many other complex maneuvers which may have saved some other girls' lives. "This was all a huge waste." She looks over the scattered yogurt remains, the shattered stage, the /gallons and gallons of ruined food/ and just makes a frustrated noises, clenching her fist at her side. "Call me if you have something actually dangerous to fight." She grumbles and stalks off, her shoulders rigid with an anger that has as much to do with herself as with anything that happened today.

Tomomi sneaks away once the youma is defeated. She has something to tell the Apothecary now! It is very exciting. Maybe she will make a Prezi.

As Sailor Moon uncerimoniously slumps out of the yogurt monster, she lies on the ground unconcious. After a moment, she stirs, mumbling as she wakes back up again. A few more moments, and she emits a soft, long whine.

"I'm so ti-ired!"

She slowly gets back up to her feet, and looks at the two girls who /didn't/ get eaten by yogurt. "Y-you... you saved me? Thanks..."

Sailor Moon looks around. She is so totally going to make a PSA against food poisoning or yogurt or something like that! That'll show 'em.

Suzu Hamasaki hits the ground, rolls, and vanishes under a stage with a /thump/... where she untransforms back into regular old Suzu with a trail of sparkles. She spits out half a mouthful of yogurt and lets out a highly unladylike belch, saved from public humiliation by the fact that she's hiding again. Her stomach is already highly uncomfortable, not being meant for that much dairy.

Don't judge. It was the only way she could think of to not choke.

A moment later, and Suzu - not Seafoam Suzu's! - blonde head sticks back out from under the stage, as if checking to see if it's safe for civilians. Maybe she'll just stay here for a few minutes. Yes. That sounds like a good idea, she thinks, pulling her head back in. She'll let the magical girls clear out first. She needs a moment to recover her energy anyway... she's exhausted!

                    o/` Furikazashita! Sono yaiba de~ o/`                      
                      o/` Uchiharae! Kono akumu wo~ o/`                      

Diva Heart's music once again blares from every surface in the area as the ooze monster finishes dissolving. Rather than rush to check on Suzu and Sailor Moon, however, Diva Heart lets out a triumphant scream and leaps to her feet, rushing into her corner and springing up onto the second rope, lifting her hands into the air in victory.

Once Kyouko's sassiness sinks in, however, the diva's arms drop to her side, and she glares daggers after the girl. A few seconds later, the music fades away, and Diva Heart lifts her hand, a gaudily colored microphone appearing in it with a flash of light. "I'll be with you in one second," she calls over her shoulder, to the fallen Sailor Moon.

Then she turns her attention back to the leaving Kyouko, and she shouts into the microphone, her voice amplified to carry throughout the entire area. "Hey, you weirdo! Why do you have to be such a-- a b-word?!" she calls. "If you really want to fight something tough, why don't you fight me?!"